Hierarchical beam management

ABSTRACT

Information associated with a communication service need of the user is received from a user of a client computer system. A set of communication service requirements that indicate satellite resources required to satisfy the communication service need of the user are computed based on the received information, and transmitted to a server computer system. A first beam plan that satisfies the set of communication service requirements is received from the server computer system. The first beam plan includes information on satellite beams and spectra for allocation to the user when the first beam plan is deployed to provide a communication service to the user that satisfies the communication service need of the user. Instructions are transmitted to the server computer system to deploy the first beam plan. Information is received from the server computer system indicating that the first beam plan is deployed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/816,309 filed Aug. 3, 2015, which is a divisional of U.S. applicationSer. No. 13/841,572 filed Mar. 15, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,680,559issued Jun. 13, 2017, and claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/697,143 filed on Sep. 5, 2012. All of these priorapplications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety forall purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The following disclosure is related to hierarchical beam managementsystems in communication networks.

BACKGROUND

Some communication systems can connect geographically distributed usersthrough satellites, or terrestrial connections, or a combination ofboth. A satellite may provide multiple beams for connecting thegeographically distributed areas.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure describes methods, systems and devices forhierarchical beam management in terrestrial and satellite networks. Insome implementations, a satellite communications system is composed ofvirtual hub servers (VHSs) and virtual hub clients (VHCs) thatcommunicate with each other and with a satellite to update dynamicallybeam plans to more efficiently use the satellite's resources whenproviding services to enterprise customers. An enterprise customerinteracts with a VHC to provide functional requirements that define anew communication service that is desired by the enterprise customer.The functional requirements are converted by the VHC and/or the VHS intocommunication requirements (also referred to as communication servicerequirements) that are inputted into a dynamic satellite resourceallocation algorithm to determine whether the satellite is able tosatisfy the enterprise customer's communication requirements. Thedynamic satellite resource allocation algorithm attempts to satisfy thecommunication requirements for the newly requested service while at thesame time satisfying the communication requirements of existingenterprise customers that are already receiving service from thesatellite.

The details of one or more aspects of the subject matter described inthis specification are set forth in the accompanying drawings and thedescription below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of thesubject matter will become apparent from the description, the drawings,and the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example satellite communications system that isused for hierarchical beam management.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an example satellitecommunications system that may be used for hierarchical beam management.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example block diagram of a virtual hub server(VHS) for hierarchical beam management in a satellite communicationssystem.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example process performed by a virtual hub client(VHC) for hierarchical beam management in a satellite communicationssystem.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example process performed by a virtual hub server(VHS) for hierarchical beam management in a satellite communicationssystem.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example process 600 performed by a virtual hubserver (VHS) for dynamic resource allocation in a satellitecommunications system.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate an example UI of a VHC that is shown on adisplay coupled to a computer running the VHC.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the context of a communications system that uses one or moresatellites for connecting users, a satellite may use multiple antennaelements in, for example, a phased array antenna or as part of areflector antenna, to form one or more communication beams forcommunicating with user devices on the ground or with other satellites.An antenna element refers to a resonating structure that is designed totransmit or receive electromagnetic energy in a frequency band (forexample, a microwave frequency band). In a beamforming satellite system,a signal stream is divided among each of the antenna elements.Beamforming is implemented by adjusting the relative phase and/or gainof each signal path routed to each antenna element to thereby enable theenergy radiated by each antenna element to be coherently combined tocreate a beam pattern composed of one or more beams. The same approachcan also be used in the receive direction where the received signalsfrom each receiving antenna element are coherently combined to createthe beam pattern.

The beamforming may be accomplished onboard the satellite byconstructing a fixed beamforming network behind the element array usingprocessors on board the satellite. Additionally or alternatively, thebeamforming may be accomplished using a ground based beamforming (GBBF)system (that is, a system on Earth) that calculates the relativeamplitudes and phases that define each intended beam.

Subsequently, the signals from each beam are divided into frequencychannels, each of which may have a configurable bandwidth. Selectedchannels from each uplink beam are then mapped to a second frequencychannel. These second frequency channels are then routed to downlinkbeams. The downlink beams may be created by coherent phase and gaincombining of signals produced by individual antenna elements. A table ofphase and gain coefficients, which are collectively a referred to as thebeam coefficients, may be used to create unique shaped beams on theuplink (that is, from the ground to the satellite) or on the downlink(that is, from the satellite to the ground).

Two beams generated near each other that operate in overlappingfrequency bands may be referred to as co-channel beams. In someimplementations, co-channel beams may receive interference from eachother. In such implementations, the generation and use of beams may becoordinated so that satellite resources are not depleted andinterference between co-channel beams is minimized.

An RF communication channel or connection that connects two users can beformed using four beams, with the communication path from the first userto the second user going from the ground user terminal associated withthe first user to the satellite using a first beam and from thesatellite to the ground user terminal associated with the second userusing a second beam. The two beams may be linked together using aswitching fabric on board the satellite. The communication path from thefirst user to the satellite is on the uplink, and the first beam may bereferred to as an uplink beam. The communication path from the satelliteto the second user is on the downlink, and the second beam may bereferred to as a downlink beam.

A return communication path from the second user to the first user maybe established by using a third beam to connect the ground user terminalassociated with the second user to the satellite on the uplink, and byfourth beam from the satellite to the ground user terminal associatedwith the first user on the downlink. Therefore, following theterminology used in this section, the third beam is an uplink beam andthe fourth beam is a downlink beam.

Some satellite communication systems provide infrastructure resources togroups of users for establishing their own networks over the satellitecommunication system. For example, the satellite communication systemmay be operated by a satellite network provider, which leases outbandwidth on the satellite network to enterprise customers of thesatellite network provider. The enterprise customer uses the bandwidthprovided by the satellite network to interconnect users of theenterprise customer who may be in diverse terrestrial regions.

In traditional beamforming satellite communication systems, thesatellite network provider computes a set of beams, for either abeam-forming satellite or GBBF, that are generally fixed. The satellitenetwork provider configures and fixes beams by determining the areaswhere the beams are going to be located, the bandwidths and frequenciesof the uplink and downlink beams that are to be formed, and the beamswitching on the satellite.

Once the beams are computed, the satellite network provider attempts tosell bandwidth on the beams to its enterprise customers. Since thenetwork architecture is generally fixed once the beams are generated,the satellite network provider attempts to match the requirements of itsenterprise customers with the existing beams. For example, the satellitenetwork provider may have generated a beam that covers all of SouthAmerica with a shape similar to that of South America. The satellitenetwork provider may sell service over that beam to an enterprisecustomer who may have users in South America. By leasing services onthat beam, the enterprise customer may interconnect its users who arelocated in South America.

With the fixed set of beams as described above, the satellite networkprovider may not be able to accommodate an enterprise customer who maywant network coverage in a geographic area that is not covered by anysuitable combination of the beams. In such an event, the enterprisecustomer may have to modify its coverage requirements such that thecoverage fits one of the existing beams, or go for a differentconnectivity other than the satellite communications system, providedsuch connectivity is available.

In some cases, the satellite network provider may be able to accommodatethe enterprise customer seeking coverage in a geographic area that isnot suitably covered by any existing beam. However, the resourceutilization may not be efficient. For example, the enterprise customermay want network coverage only over Peru, Chile and Bolivia. However,the existing beam available in the set of beams may cover all of SouthAmerica. Therefore, the satellite network provider may be able toprovide service to users of the enterprise customer in Peru, Chile andBolivia using the beam that covers all of South America. However, thismay be inefficient since a substantial area that is available to thebeam is not used. The beam also may interfere with other beams that areattempting to provide coverage in other regions of South America.

Some satellite network providers use bandwidth management systems thatprovision satellite channels from a hub supporting a pool of userscommunicating over the satellite. Such bandwidth management systemsconfigure channel frequencies, timing and data rates to allow users tocommunicate. The bandwidth management systems assume that the satellitesare static bent pipes with static routing, beam and channelcharacteristics. In some implementations, independent management may beinfeasible because beam and routing functions may interfere and utilizea common pool of resources. The bandwidth management systems may benefitfrom a fully-flexible beamforming and channelizing satellite networkarchitecture.

From the perspective of an enterprise customer, the beams that areavailable in a conventional satellite network cannot be customized tothe specific needs of the enterprise customer. Instead, the enterprisecustomer has to adjust its requirements to fit one of the existing beamsin the satellite network. For example, the enterprise customer may checkthe beams that are available in the satellite network by visiting thewebsite of the satellite network provider. The enterprise customeridentifies which of the available beams listed on the website best meetsthe communication service requirements of the enterprise customer andmay proceed to select the identified beam.

The enterprise customer may have to update its functional andcommunication service requirements to match resources provided by theselected beam. For example, the power level of the beams are alreadyfixed by the satellite network provider. The enterprise customer cannotspecify the power level requirement that it would like. Instead, oncethe beam is selected, if the enterprise customer determines that thesatellite antennas in its current user terminals does not have enoughpower for the selected beam, then the enterprise customer will have tobuy user terminals with a bigger satellite antenna that can meet thepower requirements of the selected beam.

It may be useful to have a flexible satellite communications system inwhich the generation of the beams are tailored towards the requirementsof the enterprise customers of the satellite network provider. Such asystem would allow the enterprise customer to convey it's functionaland/or communication service requirements to the satellite networkprovider, which will allocate beams on the satellite that are tailoredtowards the communication service requirements of the enterprisecustomer. Such a system also may provide the ability to updatedynamically the beams as the requirements of the enterprise customerschange with time, and/or as the satellite network provider adds newenterprise customers that share the satellite resources with theexisting customers.

In some implementations, a flexible satellite communications system withdynamic beams may be achieved using hierarchical beam managementarchitecture. In one such implementation, each enterprise customer mayhave a dedicated bandwidth management center (BMC) referred to as thevirtual hub client (VHC), which is a computer system that is managed bythe enterprise customer and supports the users of the enterprisecustomer. The satellite communications system may include multiple VHCsthat are independent of one another and located in disparate regions.

In some implementations, one or more VHCs may manage assets withinconstraints that are determined apriori. Such VHCs manage the bandwidthand timing of user signals, beam shapes, beam locations and routingthrough the satellite, and transmit power levels to support servicesrequested from the subscribers.

Each VHC determines the functional requirements of the correspondingenterprise customer based on the values the enterprise customer providesto the VHC. The functional requirements define a particularcommunication service need of the enterprise customer (for example, aneed to setup a communication path between an office of the enterprisecustomer located in Los Angeles and an office of the enterprise customerlocated in Washington, D.C. for a video conference that will take placeat a particular date and time). The VHC maps the functional requirementsto communication service requirements, such as beam, power, bandwidthand routing requirements, and relays the communication servicerequirements to a central BMC, which is a computer system managed by thesatellite network provider and is referred to as the virtual hub server(VHS).

The VHS combines the communication service requirements received fromall the VHCs and generates a common resource plan, which is referred toas the unified beam plan, which determines how the satellite resources(that is, beams on the satellite) are to be allocated among thedifferent enterprise customers. In some implementations, the unifiedbeam plan is a data structure (for example, a matrix or a table) thatincludes entries for all the communication paths through the satellite.For example, the unified beam plan may include information that wouldenable the satellite to generate all the uplink beams and the downlinkbeams. For each uplink beam, the corresponding entry in the datastructure of the unified beam plan may specify, for example, anidentifier of the uplink beam (for example, transmit beam 45), the beamcoefficients for configuring the antenna elements to generate the uplinkbeam, the central frequency for the uplink beam and the bandwidth of thebeam. For each downlink beam, the corresponding entry in the datastructure of the unified beam plan specifies the identifier of thedownlink beam, the beam coefficients for configuring the antennaelements to generate the downlink beam, the central frequency and thebandwidth of the downlink beam, and the power level for the downlinkbeam. In addition, the unified beam plan also includes information onswitching between the beams, that is, which uplink beam will beconnected to which downlink beam by the switching fabric on thesatellite.

The VHS communicates the unified beam plan to the VHCs. The VHS, whichmay be co-located at or otherwise coupled to a central managing gatewayin the system, configures the antenna elements on board the satellite togenerate the beams based on the unified beam plan.

Therefore, the implementation of the hierarchical beam managementarchitecture may allow multiple independent bandwidth management systemsassociated with different enterprise customers to manage simultaneouslycommunication resource assets on board a channelizing beam-formingsatellite, such as uplink beams, downlink beams and routing from theuplink beams to the downlink beams. The architecture may allow thebandwidth management systems to acquire required satellite resources inreal time in order to better provision the communication servicerequirements of their corresponding enterprise customers.

Unlike conventional systems that allow minimal or no change to anexisting beam plan, the satellite communications system with thehierarchical beam management is able to modify any or all of the beamsin the beam plan to satisfy the communication requirements of theservices to existing enterprise customers while also satisfying thecommunication service requirements of new enterprise customers. Byenabling the beams to be dynamically modified to accommodate newservices requested by enterprise customers, the satellite resources maybe used more efficiently, resulting in decreased costs.

System, methods and devices are described in the following sections forhierarchical beam management in a satellite communications system. Forthe purposes of this discussion, the terms “satellite communicationssystem,” “satellite network” and “network” are used interchangeably. Theterms “network client,” “enterprise customer” and “virtual hub client”(VHC) are used synonymously. The terms “satellite network provider” and“virtual hub server” (VHS) are used synonymously. The terms“communication channel” and “connection” are used interchangeably, witha communication channel or connection being considered between twousers. Each communication channel or connection is composed of two ormore communication paths, with each communication path being between auser terminal and the satellite (that is, either an uplink or a downlinkpath). An uplink or a downlink beam is associated with a communicationpath, depending on the direction of the signal flow.

In addition, though the remaining sections are described in reference togenerating and managing beams on board a satellite in a satellitecommunications system, the techniques described here may be equallyapplicable to other forms of beam generation and management and othertypes of communications systems. For example, ground-based beam formingmay be configured to employ these operations. As another example, awireless terrestrial network may implement a hierarchical beammanagement architecture.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example satellite communications system 100 thatis used for hierarchical beam management. The satellite communicationssystem 100 includes a satellite 102 that is connected to a satellitegateway 104 through satellite links 110 and 112. The satellitecommunications system 100 also includes one or more virtual hub clients(VHCs), which are collectively identified by the label 106 in FIG. 1.The VHCs are connected to the satellite 102 through satellite links 116.Some of the VHCs 106 also may have terrestrial connectivity to thesatellite gateway 104, which is indicated by the link 114. The satellitecommunications system 100 also includes user terminals corresponding tothe users of enterprise customers that are serviced by the satellitecommunications system 100. The user terminals are collectivelyidentified by the label 108. The user terminals 108 may begeographically distributed and connect to the network using viasatellite links indicated by 118.

The satellite 102 may be located at a certain orbital location, forexample, a low earth orbit, or a medium earth orbit, or a geostationaryorbit. While only a single satellite 102 is shown, a plurality ofsatellites may be used. The satellite 102 connects the gateway 104 tothe VHCs 106 and the user terminals 108, and VHCs 106 to theirrespective user terminals 108. The satellite 102 also interconnects userterminals 108 that are in disparate locations via RF communicationschannels created over spot beams covering the disparate locations. Whileonly a single gateway 104 is shown, multiple gateways may be employed.

The satellite 102 may include one or more computer processors on-board,which may be used to perform beamforming calculations to form desiredbeam patterns. The satellite 102 may include multiple antenna elementsor feeds to enable transmission of information in both directions fromthe satellite 102 to the gateways or user terminals. The antennaelements transmit signals to or receive signals from the satellitegateway 104, the VHCs 106 and the user terminals 108.

A processor on board the satellite 102 may sample signals from each ofthe incoming RF channels. The processor may combine the phase and gainof individual RF antenna elements to create receiving radiating beams.Other RF or optical feed elements also may be received at the processorin isolation to create signal element uplink beams.

In some implementations, the satellite 102 is a direct radiatingsatellite that includes an array of elements that instead directlyradiate energy from the satellite to the Earth or directly receiveenergy from the Earth without the energy being reflected or redirectedby any surface or dish on the satellite. In other implementations, thesatellite 102 is a reflecting satellite that includes multiplereflecting dishes for reflecting or redirecting the energy used to formthe beams.

The satellite gateway 104 includes one or more modules that processsignals exchanged with the satellite elements for beamforming. Thegateway 104 may transmit signals to the satellite 102 over the satellitereturn links for phase and/or gain calibration for the uplink and thedownlink beams. The signals used for phase and/or gain calibration mayinclude unique code words that identify such signals as being configuredfor phase and/or gain calibration. The satellite 102 may measure thephase and gain of the transmitted calibration signals to enablecalibration and/or pointing correction.

In some implementations, a VHS may be co-located with the satellitegateway 104, while in other implementations a VHS may be locatedseparately from the satellite gateway 104, but coupled to the satellitegateway 102, for example, using a dedicated network connection. Thesatellite 102, the satellite gateway 104 and the VHS may be managed bythe satellite network provider.

The VHS may include logic embedded in a server, or a collection ofservers, which is configured to perform resource allocation on board thesatellite 102 based on communication service requirements that arereceived from the VHCs 106. In one implementation, the VHS may include acollection of software modules stored in the memory of a servercomputer. The software modules may include algorithms which, whenexecuted by the server processor, provide network resource allocationfunctionality.

Each of the VHCs 106 may be associated with individual enterprisecustomers of the satellite network provider. Each VHC may include logicembedded in a computer, or a collection of computers, which isconfigured to determine the communication service requirements of theusers associated with the respective enterprise customers and,accordingly, compute the resources in the satellite communicationssystem 100 that are needed by the enterprise customer for providingservice to its users. In one implementation, the VHC may include acollection of software modules stored in the memory of a computer at anenterprise customer site. The software modules may include algorithmswhich, when executed by the computer processor, provide functionalityfor computing communication service requirements.

As shown in FIG. 1, each VHC 106 may be coupled to a satellite antennafor communicating with the satellite gateway 102 and the user terminals108 over the satellite channels. For example, a VHC 106 may receiveinformation on the functional requirements of the users associated withthe corresponding enterprise customer via a communication channel formedover the satellite links 116 and 118. The VHC 106 may translate thefunctional requirements into communication service requirements for theenterprise customer and send the communication service requirements tothe VHS by a communication channel formed over the satellite links 112and 116 and through the satellite gateway 104. In some implementations,the VHC 106 may additionally or alternatively send the communicationservice requirements to the VHS over the terrestrial link 114.

The VHCs 106 communicate with the VHS to provision beams, frequencies,bandwidths and power levels in the satellite communications system 100in order to utilize efficiently the resources of the satellite 102. AVHC may be constrained by the maximum number of beams that the VHS isallowed to use. The VHC also may be constrained by a limit on satellitepower utilized by the user terminals of the VHC enterprise customer.Furthermore, the VHC may be constrained by bandwidth per beam, or ageographic region where service for the enterprise customer is allowed.

The minimum communication service requirements for an enterprisecustomer may be specified in a constraint agreement that is made betweenthe enterprise customer and the operator of the satellite network 100(that is, the satellite network provider). The constraint agreement mayinclude values of lower and/or upper limits of one or more networkparameters for the enterprise customer, which are described in afollowing section. In one implementation, the VHS is responsible forensuring that each VHC stays within its constraint agreement such thatsatellite resources are efficiently deployed.

In one implementation, a VHC uses an Application Programming Interface(API) to determine channelization and beam configurations correspondingto the communication service requirements of its enterprise customer.The API may be configured locally in the VHC and may take into accountthe constraints associated with the VHC. The API may allow the VHC toperform trade analyses on beam configurations before submitting anofficial request to the VHS.

The VHS considers all communication service requirements, which includebeam, power, bandwidth and routing requirements, in the aggregate fromall VHCs. In the process, the VHS may take into consideration beam tobeam interference (for example, co-polarization, cross-polarization oradjacent channel interference); satellite power resources; and othersatellite constraints (for example, number of channels and beams). Thenthe VHS generates a common resource plan, also referred to as a unifiedbeam plan, with unified beam, power, frequency, timing, bandwidth androuting, which is sent to the different VHCs. Once a VHC receives itsbeam plans, it provisions channels and beams to its associated users.

The satellite gateway 104 and the VHCs 106 may be connected through thesatellite links 112 and 116, or through the terrestrial link 114, orboth. In some implementations, the satellite links 112 and 116 may beconfigured as dedicated command/control channels for the virtual hubs.For example, 2.5 mega-hertz (MHz) of the satellite bandwidth (2.5 MHz inboth the uplink and the downlink) may be dedicated to the controlchannel, with the control channel beams for all VHCs 106 sharing thesame 2.5 MHz bandwidth. Since the satellite beams may cover a largegeographical area (for example, far-flung regions of the Earth), theVHCs 106 may be widely distributed.

In some implementations, the terrestrial link 114 may provide aterrestrial option for the virtual hub command/control channel. Theterrestrial link 114 may be part of a closed network accessible only tocomponents of the satellite communications system 100, such as thesatellite gateway 104/VHS and the VHCs 106. For example, the terrestriallink 114 may be a dedicated physical cable connecting the VHS to theVHCs. Alternatively, the terrestrial link 114 may be part of an opennetwork, such as the Internet. In either case, the terrestrial link 114may be a high-speed connection, such as an optical connection with datarates in the range of gigabits per second.

Implementations that employ the terrestrial command channel approach maylimit the geographical locations of the VHCs 106, for example to areaswhere connectivity through physical cables is possible. At the sametime, such implementations do not need satellite bandwidth for thecommand/control channel, which may be more cost-effective sincesatellite connectivity may be more expensive than terrestrialconnectivity. In some implementations, a combination of satellite andterrestrial connectivity may be employed to provide the virtual hubcommand/control channel.

Each enterprise customer may manage its own set of users, who arerepresented by the user terminals 108, which are networked computingdevices configured to communicate over the satellite links 118. The userterminals may be computers, cable set-top boxes, or phone booths thatare coupled to satellite antennas for communicating over the satellitelinks 118. For example, an enterprise customer may be a chain of gasstations, with individual gas stations being the users. The userterminal for each gas station may be a desktop computer that isconnected to a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) antenna. The userterminals also may be mobile devices such as handheld phones, electronictablets, or personal digital assistants with in-built satelliteantennas, or networked computers in vehicles with satelliteconnectivity. For example, an enterprise customer may be a commercialfreight company that has a fleet of tractor-trailers and freight trains,which are equipped with laptop computers connected to satellite antennasthat are affixed to the vehicles. The fleet drivers may represent theusers of the freight company, which may lease bandwidth in a satellitenetwork so that the vehicles may be connected to the companyheadquarters while they are on the road.

The user terminals 108 in separate satellite coverage areas may beserviced by different formed beams. The user terminals may communicatewith each other and with the VHCs 106 via the satellite links 118 and116.

The satellite communications system 100 provide flexible and dynamicbeam allocation to enterprise customers through hierarchical beammanagement in a manner described by the following illustrative example.Consider a law firm as an enterprise customer that has office locationsdistributed throughout North America. Each office location may have asatellite modem and VSAT antenna as the user terminal 108. The law firmhas a VHC in one of its office locations. For example, the law firm mayhave a computer at its headquarters that runs software modulesimplementing VHC functionalities, which may include algorithms todetermine communication service requirements based on functional needsof the different office locations.

The law firm determines the typical connectivity requirements for thevarious office locations such that employees may be consistentlyconnected across the different offices. The connectivity requirement foreach office may include, for example, the aggregate network bandwidth orthe data rate and minimum quality of service (QoS) such that anacceptable enterprise-level network connection may be available for theparticular office.

The law firm computes the overall network requirement based on theindividual office connectivity requirements. For example, an operator atthe firm headquarters enters the different office connectivityrequirements in the computer hosting the VHC modules as the functionalrequirement for the law firm, and runs the VHC modules to determine theoverall communication service requirements for the law firm.

The firm may have an agreement with a satellite network provider forleasing network resources offered by the satellite network provider. Theagreement may include, among other constraints, the geographic areaswhere the satellite network provider will provide coverage to connectthe users of the firm. For example, the geographic coverage areas in theagreement may map to the areas where the offices of the firm arelocated. The agreement also may include the minimum data rate providedby the satellite communication channels that will interconnect thevarious offices of the firm. In addition, the agreement may include aminimum radiating power for the beams such that the satellite antennasassociated with the user terminals of the enterprise customer maysuccessfully receive the transmitted signal, and, in someimplementations, also may include a percentage up-time that takes intoaccount inclement weather conditions.

If the communication service requirements for the law firm are withinthe values specified in the constraint agreement for the law firm, theVHC module at the offices of the law firm conveys the communicationservice requirements to the VHS run by the satellite network provider.The network operator may, for example, run VHS modules on the computerat the offices of the satellite network provider to determine howresources on the satellite 102 may be allocated so that the servicerequirements of the law firm may be satisfied as per the agreement. Theresource allocation, which is encompassed in a beam plan for theenterprise, may include, for example, shapes and locations of the beams,link bandwidths, uplink and downlink frequencies, and, optionally, astrategy for mitigating signal fades due to atmospheric conditions suchas rain, which may be referred to as fade mitigation strategy.

When attempting to allocate satellite resources to satisfy the lawfirm's communication service need, the current resource allocation inthe satellite network for existing enterprise customers also may beaffected, since in a satellite network a communication link may affectone or more other communication links. Therefore, the VHS modules willhave to ensure that the communication service requirements for existingenterprise customers are also being satisfied while allocating resourcesfor the new enterprise customer (that is, the law firm). Accordingly,the VHS modules have to check that existing constraint agreements arebeing met. This may be achieved in the satellite communications system100 because the VHS is a centralized entity that receives thecommunication service requirements for all the enterprise customers and,therefore, has a global view of the resource needs in the network.

When the VHS comes up with a unified beam plan, the VHS conveys theindividual portions of the unified beam plan for each enterprisecustomer to the VHC associated with the respective enterprise customer.In some implementations, the VHS obtains approval from all theenterprise customers before implementing the unified beam plan.

The VHS sends the unified beam plan to the satellite 102 via thesatellite gateway 104 and over the command/control channel 112. Theunified beam plan may include, for example, a list of all the beams, andfor each beam, beam coefficients on the uplink, frequency translation,frequencies on the uplink and the downlink, the beam bandwidth and beamcoefficients on the downlink, and a beam power value on the downlink.The antenna elements on the satellite 102 are configured to generate thebeam patterns according to the beam coefficients in the plan. The logicon the satellite on-board processor is updated such that contentreceived from a source user terminal on an uplink beam is switched tothe corresponding downlink beam that connects the source user terminalto the intended destination user terminal.

The operator for an enterprise customer receives the new beam plan fromthe VHS through its VHC computer. For example, a display coupled to theVHC may show the details of the beam plan on a user interface. Theoperator accordingly configures the user terminals of the enterprisecustomer to receive the RF channels over the beams allocated to theenterprise customer. For example, the operator orients each userterminal in the direction of the beam; sets the transmission and/orreception frequency to that of the allocated RF channel; and sets theterminal transmit and/or receive power levels such that the RFtransmission or reception may be successfully made. Subsequently, oncethe beams are activated on the satellite 102, the user terminals of theenterprise customer may communicate with one another and with otherentities over the satellite network 100, while being provided with a QoSbased on the agreement with the satellite network provider.

In some implementations, the VHS may update the overall unified beamplan frequently. For example, as enterprise customers join or leave thenetwork, or the service requirements of existing enterprise customerschange, the VHS updates the resource allocation by, for example, addingnew resources or deleting unused resources to ensure that theagreed-upon communication service requirements of the current enterprisecustomers are met. The VHS may perform these updates periodically (forexample, once a week, once a day, or once an hour) or substantiallycontinually (for example, once every few seconds) at regularlypredetermined time intervals or in response to the changing serviceneeds of enterprise customers.

In some implementations, while updating the unified beam plan, the VHSattempts to ensure that existing enterprise customers whosecommunication service requirements have not changed are not disturbed.That is, while the specific resources allocated to such existingenterprise customers may change, they do not change in a manner thatwould cause the existing enterprise customers to have to re-configuretheir user terminals to avoid service interruption. For example, theorientation of the user terminals and the frequency channels allocatedto the enterprise customers (to which the user terminals are tuned) maynot be changed by the updated unified beam plan. The resources allocatedto the existing enterprise customers, however, may change in the updatedunified beam plan, for example, in that the particular beam or beamsthat currently provide service to one or more of the existing enterprisecustomers may change in shape or may be replaced by one or more newbeams that still satisfy the communication service requirements of thoseenterprise customers and do so without requiring the enterprisecustomers to have to reconfigure their user terminals.

A user of the VHC of an enterprise customer may view such changes to thebeams by, for example, using the VHC to view beam characteristics foreach allocated beam, such as, for example, one or more of a map of powerdistribution over geography for a downlink beam, a map of gain ofantenna over effective noise temperature (G/T) distribution overgeography for an uplink beam, and a map of the target carrier tointerference ratio (C/I) distribution over geography for both uplink anddownlink beams. As the beam plan is dynamically updated by the VHS toaccommodate new enterprise customers and/or new services to existingenterprise customers, the user may view changes over time in each ofthese maps that reflect the corresponding changes in beams and beamshapes that have been allocated to the particular enterprise customer.In some implementations, because the updated unified beam plan stillsatisfies the communication service requirements of existing enterprisecustomers that are receiving service from the network provider and doesso without requiring the existing enterprise customers to reconfiguretheir user terminals, the system 100 may not provide the existingenterprise customers with an option to view and accept or reject theupdated unified beam plan. Instead, the system 100 may merely deploy theupdated plan and communicate the new corresponding beam characteristicsto each VHC. In some implementations, if the beam characteristics changein a manner that is deemed to be above a predetermined threshold,despite that change not violating the communication servicerequirements, the VHC of the system 100 may prompt the enterprisecustomer to accept or reject its portion of the updated unified beamplan, and the updated unified beam plan may only be deployed if all ofthe prompted enterprise customers accept their corresponding portions ofthe plan. For example, the updated unified beam plan may result in anappreciable increase in interference (that is, the C/I beamcharacteristic) that, while not violating the communication servicerequirements of the enterprise customer, is deemed large enough torequire explicit acceptance from the enterprise customer before theupdated unified beam plan may be deployed.

In some implementations, the VHS updates the unified beam plan toprovide service to new enterprise customers and/or additional service toexisting enterprise customers without regard to whether the updatedunified beam plan requires that the existing enterprise customers haveto re-configure their associated user terminals. In suchimplementations, the VHCs corresponding to existing enterprise customersmay receive updated resource allocations that require that theenterprise customer re-configure the associated user terminals. In someof these implementations, some or all of the users of the VHCs may begiven the ability to accept or reject their portion of the updatedunified beam plan when their portion requires reconfiguration ofassociated user terminals. For example, the VHC may inform the operatorof the VHC via a GUI that the network provider wishes to update theunified beam plan, may provide details of the enterprise customer'sportion of the updated unified beam plan, and may prompt the user toaccept or reject the updated unified beam plan. In theseimplementations, the updated unified beam plan may not be deployed if auser rejects its portion of the updated unified beam plan. If theupdated unified beam plan is rejected, the VHS may attempt to determinea new updated unified beam plan to accommodate the new enterprisecustomers and/or the new services desired by existing enterprisecustomers.

In some implementations, the VHS and VHC modules may be closely tied intheir functionalities. For example, the VHC and VHS may be the clientand server, respectively, in a client-server system implemented by thesatellite network provider, who deploys the VHC modules at theenterprise customer sites. As described previously, the VHS and VHCmodules may be linked by dedicated command/control channels, such asover the satellite links 112 and 116, and/or the terrestrial link 114.

The beams allocated to the law firm in the preceding example may bereferred to as reserved beams, which are formed within pre-definedconstraints (that is, the agreement between the enterprise customer andthe satellite network provider). The enterprise customer reserves thebeams by specifying the bandwidth, power and geographic region. Thereserved beams may be configured in near real-time, for example, in theorder of seconds or tens of seconds from the time the communicationservice requirements are conveyed by the VHC.

The unified beam plan may include static operator-defined beams, whichare designed by the satellite operator. In such cases, the enterprisecustomers may purchase virtual transponders in the pre-configured beams.The unified beam plan also may include static user-defined beams, whichare customized beams that are allocated at the time of purchasing alease on the satellite 102. The static user-defined beams do not changesubsequently.

The unified beam plan may include ad-hoc beams, which are beams that areoutside the scope of pre-determined agreements between the enterprisecustomers and the satellite network provider. For example, an enterprisecustomer may temporarily require additional connectivity between itsusers that fall beyond the resources provided to the enterprise customerbased on the agreement. The VHC of the enterprise customer may requestthe VHS for the additional allocation. The VHS may satisfy the requestif network resources are available, while providing the resources to allthe enterprise customers based on their respective agreements.

As an example of a resource allocation with ad-hoc beams, the law firmmay want to establish a video-conferencing session between its officesin Washington D.C. and Silicon Valley, in addition to making use of thenetwork resources allocated to the law firm for regular connectivity. Ifthe coverage and bandwidth requirements for the video-conferencingsession can be satisfied by the network resources that are alreadyallocated to the law firm based on its agreement with the satellitenetwork provider in addition to use of the resources for other purposed,then the video-conferencing session may be established over the existingbeams without further provisioning by the VHS.

However, the case may be that the coverage and bandwidth requirementsfor the video-conferencing session cannot be satisfied by the networkresources that are already allocated to the law firm based on itsagreement with the satellite network provider. For example, the existingagreement between the law firm and the satellite network provider maynot cover the office in Silicon Valley, and therefore a beam may not bepresently available for the law firm to use in its Silicon Valleyoffice. An alternative situation may be that both offices of the lawfirm are covered by existing beams, the bandwidth requirement for thevideo-conferencing session exceeds the bandwidth guaranteed and/orallocated to the law firm in the network. In such a case, the VHC at theheadquarters of the law firm may make a new request to the VHS for theadditional resources needed to establish the video-conferencing session.

Since the additional resources requested are outside the scope of theconstraint agreement with the law firm, the satellite network providermay not be obligated to provide the resources. For example, uponreceiving the request, the VHS attempts to generate a new unified beamplan that provides service to existing enterprise customers that meetstheir respective communication service requirements while at the sametime provides the desired service in response to the request. If the VHSis unable to generate such a new unified beam plan (for example, becausethe service to existing customers along with the new service cannot besimultaneously satisfied by available network resources), the VHS mayrefuse the request. However, if the new unified beam plan can begenerated, then the VHS may allocate the network resources that areneeded for the video-conferencing session. If a new coverage isrequired, the VHS may configure antenna elements on the satellite 102 togenerate a new beam or re-configure an existing beam (which may beotherwise unused) to cover the offices in Silicon Valley. If additionalbandwidth is needed, the VHS may provide the extra bandwidth on thetransponders that link the two offices in Washington D.C. and SiliconValley.

When the VHS updates the unified beam plan after the ad-hoc networkresource allocation is made as above, a situation may later arise thatthe guaranteed requirements for all enterprise customers, which arebased on their respective constraint agreements, cannot be made. Forexample, a new enterprise customer may subsequently join the network.The VHS may determine that the guaranteed requirements for theenterprise customers can be met by removing the resource allocation madeto the law firm for the video-conferencing session. Since the resourceallocation was ad-hoc, the VHS may proceed to terminate the resourceallocation. In such a case, the VHS may notify the VHC associated withthe law firm about the termination. Once the network resources arere-claimed, the VHS may re-allocate them to satisfy the guaranteedrequirements for the various enterprise customers.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an example satellitecommunications system 200 that may be used for hierarchical beammanagement. The satellite communications system 200 includes a satellite202 with on-board processor 202 a and memory 202 b. The satellitecommunications system 200 includes one or more virtual hub clients(VHCs) 206, one or more user terminals 208, and also includes asatellite gateway 204 that is coupled to a virtual hub server (VHS) 204a, The satellite gateway 204 communicates with the satellite 202 via asatellite link 212, and the gateway is coupled to the VHS 204 a usingthe link 212 a. The VHS 204 a has a terrestrial link 214 with the VHCs206, which are also connected to the satellite 202 via the satellitelinks 216. The user terminals 208 are connected to the network throughthe satellite 202 via the satellite links 218.

The satellite communications system 200 may be similar to the satellitecommunications system 100. For example, the satellite 202 may havefeatures similar to that of the satellite 102. The processor 202 a maybe similar to the processor described with reference to the satellite102. The processor 202 a is configured to receive the beam coefficientsfrom the satellite gateway 204 that are sent by the VHS 206 for thecurrent unified beam plan. Based on the received beam coefficients, theprocessor 202 combines the phase and gain of individual RF antennaelements on the satellite 202 to create downlink and uplink beams.

The processor 202 a also links beams together to create communicationchannels based on the information received from the VHS. For example, acommunication path between two user terminals through the satellite 202may include an uplink beam and a downlink beam. The processor 202 aconfigures the switching fabric on board the satellite 202 such thatdata received from a user terminal on an uplink beam is switched to thecorresponding outgoing downlink beam that completes the communicationpath. The processor 202 a may perform other functions as part of theresource allocation, such as setting the power levels of the beams, ormodifying the beam power based on environmental conditions (for example,rain fade).

In some implementations, the satellite 202 includes memory 202 b. Thememory 202 b may be volatile memory (such as static or dynamic randomaccess memory), or non-volatile memory (such as flash memory or harddisk), or both. The memory 202 b may be configured to store the logicthat is executed by the processor 202 a for generating the beams, forconfiguring the switching fabric, or for some other suitable use. Thememory 202 b also may store the information from the VHS 206, such asthe beam coefficients for the current resource allocation.

The satellite gateway 204 may be similar to the satellite gateway 104.The satellite gateway 204 acts as the conduit for the VHS 204 a toexchange command and control information with the VHCs 206 over thesatellite 202, and also for the VHS 204 a to send commands to theprocessor 202 a for configuring the satellite 202 for the currentresource allocation. The satellite link 212 represents both the spaceprocessor command channel between the satellite 202 and the VHS 204 a,and the virtual hub command/control channel between the VHS 204 and theVHCs 206.

The satellite gateway 204 and the VHS 204 a may be co-located, forexample, at the site of the satellite network provider for the satellitecommunications system 200, such as at the network operations center(NOC). The VHS 204 a may be similar to the VHS described with referenceto the satellite communications system 100.

In some implementations, the satellite communications system 200 mayhave multiple VHSs 204 a. This may be the case, for example, for loadbalancing of the resource allocation computations performed by the VHS.The multiple VHSs also may provide redundancy in case one or more of thevirtual hub servers fail. The multiple VHSs may be co-located with thesatellite gateway 204, for example, on a cluster of servers at the NOC.Alternatively, the multiple VHSs may be distributed across serverslocated in various sites of the satellite network provider. This may beuseful for providing backup services in situations where an entire sitehosting a VHS goes down, for example, due to an earthquake or a fire.

The VHCs 206 may be similar to the VHCs 106, associated with theenterprise customers of the satellite network provider of the satellitecommunications system 200. The VHCs 206 are connected to the satellite202 through the satellite link 216 that provides the space-basedcommand/control channel, along with the links 212 and 212 a, between theVHS 204 a and the VHCs 206. In some implementations, the VHS 204 a andthe VHCs also may share a terrestrial command/control channel throughthe terrestrial link 214.

The user terminals 208 may be similar to the user terminals 108,representing the subscribers or users of the enterprise customers. Eachenterprise customer may manage a separate group of user terminals 208.The user terminals 208 are interconnected to each other, and to theirrespective VHCs, through the satellite 202 via the satellite links 218.In some implementations, the user terminals 208 may have terrestriallinks to their respective VHCs 206, for example over public networkssuch as the Internet. The user terminals 208 also may have terrestriallinks to the VHS 204, for example over the Internet.

As described previously, in some implementations, the VHS 204 a and theVHCs 206 implement a client-server system, with the VHCs being theclients for the VHS. Each enterprise customer site runs one or morecomputers that implement the logic, for example as software modules,corresponding to the VHC.

The VHC modules implemented on computers at an enterprise customer sitemay provide an interface for the enterprise customer to enter thefunctional requirements of its users. For example, the VHC 206 may havea user interface (UI) that is shown on a display coupled to the computerrunning the VHC at the enterprise customer's office. The operator forthe enterprise customer, or some other authorized entity, enters thevarious functional requirements for the users of the enterprise customerthrough the UI. The functional requirements entered by the operatordefine a communication service need of the enterprise customer. Thefunctional requirements may include, among other parameters, one or moreof coverage areas, time(s) of coverage, sizes of the user terminals,terminal and link parameters, and minimum and/or maximum data rate.

Once the operator enters the functional requirements, the VHC moduletranslates the functional requirements into communication servicerequirements for the enterprise customer. The VHC may generate a custombeam plan for the enterprise customer based on the communication servicerequirements. For example, the VHC may evaluate the sizes of the userterminals to estimate the signal power that is needed on the satellitefor the beam such that the user terminal of a given size is able totransmit or receive successfully. The power may be given, for example,by equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP), expressed in decibelwatts (dBW). The VHC module may use terminal characteristics, such asterminal transmit power and terminal antenna gain, to determine whetherthe ratio of the carrier power (C) to interference power (I) meets C/Irequirements for both the uplink and downlink transmission links. TheVHC module also may estimate, from the terminal characteristics, thebandwidth needed on the satellite channel such that the desired datarate may be supported.

For the purposes of this description, the terms “communication servicerequirements” and “custom beam plan” are used interchangeably, since thetwo are closely related, with the latter being based on the former asdescribed in the preceding section. In some implementations, the VHC maysend the communication service requirements directly to the VHS, whilein some other implementations, the VHC may send to the VHS a custom beamplan that translates the communication service requirements into desiredbeams.

The custom beam plan may include, among other parameters, the beaminformation, such as the beam location, satellite power given to thebeam (for example, 50 dBW of EIRP) and bandwidth allocated to the beam(for example, 50 MHz). The custom beam plan also may include informationon whether the connectivity is single-hop (that is going through asingle satellite) or multi-hop (that is going through more than onesatellite), and the uplink and downlink locations for the communicationpaths. The bandwidth and power needed for each communication path may bespecified by the custom beam plan.

The enterprise customer may have multicast or broadcast groups in itsnetwork. In such cases, the custom beam plan may include custommulticast or broadcast beams respectively that are needed to cover theusers in the multicast or broadcast groups.

For multicast situations, the beams may be configured to supportdirectly the users of the enterprise customer that are part of themulticast group. The beam shape may be designed to cover just themulticast subscribers. In some implementations, the beam shape may beweighted to account for rain fade conditions. In some implementations,the multicast beams may be designed in non-real time, that is,statically. For example, a multicast beam may be designed for a cableservice provider to cover the subscribers of the cable service. Thecable service provider VHC designs the beam initially when generatingthe custom beam plan. Once the beam is deployed by the VHS as part ofthe global resource allocation, the shape of the beam may not changefrequently. However, in some other implementations, the multicast beamsalso may be designed in real time. For example, as the cable servicesubscribers join or leave, the shape of the multicast beam may beupdated to reflect the changed coverage area.

For broadcast situations, a beam may be configured to include multipleuplink locations corresponding to multiple sources for the broadcast.The enterprise customer operator may input information on the uplinklocations and characteristics such as the sizes of the user terminals.The network also may enter information on the distribution of terminalcharacteristics (for example, user terminals in Washington D.C. may belarger than the terminals in Silicon Valley or Dallas).

Based on the communication service requirements for the broadcastsituation, the VHC module at the enterprise customer may design a custombeam plan that includes a broadcast beam. While designing the custombeam plan, the VHC module may take into account the terminalcharacteristics, such as, for example, the EIRP, bandwidth and C/Irequirements for the user terminals. After the beam is determined by theVHS based on a unified beam plan and is then deployed, performancefeedback from the user terminals may be used to improve the shape of thebeam over time to meet the functional requirements.

The VHC may take into consideration the population distribution in thebroadcast beam coverage area. The VHC may access population databasesfor the information on population distribution. The VHC also may takeinto account rain and propagation models to optimize static beam gaincontours for the beam. In some implementations, the VHC accessesdatabases provided by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)for the rain and propagation models. The broadcast beam may be designedsuch that dynamic beam gain contours can be optimized during rainevents.

In some implementations where the enterprise customer is an enterprise,the beam plan may be customized for an enterprise solution. In one suchimplementation, the beam plan may specify that the network is a singlehop. For example, the communication channel may be from user terminal Ato user terminal B. In this case, the uplink and downlink spot beams maybe centered over the specific locations of the user terminals A and B.Such a beam plan may improve performance, for example by enablingcommunication channels with low latency. The beams may be dynamicallyconfigured for each communication channel, with each leg of thecommunication channel (that is, the communication paths) configureddynamically to meet interference and margin user terminal requirements.

Another beam plan customized for an enterprise may specify a hubconfiguration network. For example, the communication channel may befrom a source user terminal to a hub at a satellite gateway, and fromthe hub to destination user terminals, resulting in a double-hopnetwork. This may be useful in situations where the spectrum is re-used.The spectrum may be fully re-used by intelligent placement of the hubs.The beam plan may include feeder links to any location that may becustomized for the feeder link terminal and target QoS.

The VHC 206 at an enterprise customer may provide additionalfunctionalities. For example, the VHC modules may include financialplanning software. The enterprise customer may use the financialplanning software to determine the cost of the custom beam plans thatare generated by the VHC based on the communication servicerequirements. The financial planning software may allow the enterprisecustomer to perform trade-off analysis of different custom beam planoptions.

The VHC 206 may include fade planning/provisioning features. Forexample, the VHC 206 may include in the beam plan features to mitigaterain fade or other environmental conditions, such as additional power(such as EIRP) during rain fade events.

The VHC 206 may include tools for link budget analysis, which enable theadministrator at the enterprise customer to estimate link budgets forthe satellite links that are needed based on the communication servicerequirements. As part of the link analysis, the enterprise customer maybe able to design virtual satellites for determining networkcommunication service requirements.

Other features of the VHC 206 may include tools for monitoring the RFspectrum, service troubleshooting during outage conditions at usersites, carrier resource optimization, simulation and modeling of thesatellite payload (that is, the processor 202 a and/or memory 202 b) anddata export/import from databases and storage.

As described previously, the VHC 206 may provide a UI for the operatorto enter the functional requirements for a service request that are thenused to determine the communication service requirements andcorresponding custom beam plan. The UI may include features allowing theoperator to see the parameters of the communication service requirementsthat are computed based on the user-inputted functional requirements. Insome implementations, the UI may allow the operator to visualize thecustom beam plans that are generated. For example, the UI may provideanimations illustrating the beam radiation patterns for the custom beamplan. Similarly, the UI also may provide information on the beams asthey are deployed on the satellite 202, when such information isreceived by the VHC 206 from the VHS 204 a (for example, in theindividual beam plan update for the specific enterprise customer). Theinformation on the beams may include, for example, one or more of a mapof power distribution over geography for a downlink beam, a map of G/Tdistribution over geography for an uplink beam, and a map of the targetC/I distribution over geography for both uplink and downlink beams.

In some implementations, the VHC 206 may include tools for theenterprise customer to perform trade-off analyses on various sizes ofthe user terminals. For example, an analysis may trade off the size ofthe user terminal to the beam power needed at the satellite 202 fordifferent user terminal sizes, and the cost to the enterprise customerassociated with the amount of beam power needed to connect its userterminals. The cost analysis may include full-price trade-off studies.

As described previously, in some implementations, a VHC 206 may be anon-real time virtual hub. The enterprise customer provides theconstraints associated with its users, such as geography, bandwidth andpower. The non-real time VHC 206 designs beam plans based on theconstraints, such that the beam plans meet user terminal, QoS andthroughput requirements within the constraints.

A non-real time beam plan may include beam patterns, channel frequencyand beam power. The beam plan may provide customized broadcast ormulticast beams, or feeder link beams. The beam plan may include optionsfor dynamic weather adaption, for example, rain fade mitigation. Foreach beam or channel transmitted, the beam plan may provide real-timeview of the channel signal band, along with estimates of terrestrialinterference (for example, due to transmissions from other userterminals or from the VHC 206 itself).

In some implementations, a VHC 206 may be a real time virtual hub. Areal time VHC includes all the features of a non-real time VHC. Inaddition, a real-time VHC may control directly the beams used by theassociated enterprise customer. For example, the enterprise customer mayrequest the VHS 204 a for coverage, power and time slots in real ornear-real time. The VHS accordingly generates the beams and allocatedspectrum to the enterprise customer, while satisfying the constraintsassociated with the unified beam plan.

The real-time VHC may send further requests to the VHS as needed, forexample, to move the beams to the top of the user terminals to maximizeperformance. The real-time VHC may assign single-hop private networksdynamically, or design multicast beams in real time to cover exactly themulticast users.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example block diagram of a virtual hub server(VHS) 300 for hierarchical beam management in a satellite communicationssystem. The VHS 302 includes an automated resourceassignment/optimization module 302 and a dynamic fade mitigation module304, along with a weather service database 306. The VHS 300 alsoincludes a satellite gateway interface 308 and an interface to virtualhub clients (VHCs) 310.

The VHS 300 may be same as the VHS 204 a. Accordingly, VHS 300 isdescribed with reference to the satellite communications system 200.However, the VHS 300 also may be implemented in other communicationssystems.

The VHS 300 may be implemented as server software on one or morecomputers at the premises of the satellite network provider, for exampleat the NOC as described previously. The VHS 300 includes multiplemodules that perform various functionalities for managing the resourcesin the satellite network.

The automated resource assignment/optimization module 302 receivescommunication service requirements from the VHCs that are deployed atthe sites of the enterprise customers of the satellite network provider.Based on the communication service requirements, the automated resourceassignment/optimization module 302 generates a unified beam plan for theoverall network. The automated resource assignment/optimization module302 may optimize the coefficient tables for the beams and generatepointing correction tables as part of computing the unified beam planfor the network.

In some implementations, the unified beam plan generated by theautomated resource assignment/optimization module 302 may be based onconstraint agreements in addition to the communication servicerequirements. In such implementations, the automated resourceassignment/optimization module 302 takes into consideration therequirements of all the enterprise customers as set forth in theconstraint agreements to ensure that the optimal beam/spectrum planssatisfy the requirements of the enterprise customers as stipulated intheir respective agreements with the satellite network provider. Theagreement may restrict parameters such as the bandwidth, spectra, powerand geographic coverage provided to the users of the enterprisecustomer, which may be referred to as constraints. The constraintagreements also may indicate the priority that will be given tocompeting service requests from the enterprise customers. For example,as described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 5, requestsdesignated as “ad-hoc” my be assigned a lower priority than “non-ad-hoc”requests and allocations that satisfy ad-hoc requests may be removed infavor of allocations to satisfy new non-ad-hoc requests.

In some implementations, a unified beam plan generated by the automatedresource assignment/optimization module 302 may be considered acceptableif the plan satisfies the communication service requirements and theconstraint agreements for each enterprise customer. The automatedresource assignment/optimization module 302 optionally may attempt toprovide to an enterprise customer best effort for C/I and power that isabove the minimum guaranteed by the agreement between the enterprisecustomer and the satellite network provider.

In some implementations, the beam plan generated by the automatedresource assignment/optimization module 302 for an enterprise customermay be based on dynamic purchase of resources by the enterprisecustomer. In such implementations, the bandwidth, power and beams areallocated ad-hoc to the enterprise customer. The satellite networkprovider may bill the enterprise customer based on usage of the networkresources, for example in a manner similar to a phone service. Asdescribed previously, in the ad-hoc approach, the request or plan may berejected by the VHS if the corresponding communication servicerequirements cannot be met.

In some implementations, the beam plan generated by the automatedresource assignment/optimization module 302 for an enterprise customermay be formula-based. In such implementations, the agreement between theenterprise customer and the satellite network provider may includemonetary value constraints instead of communication servicerequirements. For example, the agreement may specify that the enterprisecustomer will pay the satellite network provider at most $X for thenetwork resources that are allocated to the enterprise customer. In suchcases, a resource request by the VHC of the enterprise customer may berejected by the VHS if the requested resources exceed the agreed-uponmonetary value.

In some implementations, the beam plan generated by the automatedresource assignment/optimization module 302 for an enterprise customermay be based on a fixed allocation. In such implementations, the networkresources are purchased by the enterprise customer at one time and thebandwidth, power and beams are allocated accordingly by the VHS. Theallocations do not change subsequently. However, minor changes to thebeams may be allowed to optimize performance (for example, moving theexact beam center or rain fade mitigation).

Once the unified beam plan is generated, the VHS 300 communicates theindividual portions of the plan to the VHC at each enterprise customercorresponding to the individual portion. The communication between theVHS 300 and the VHCs occurs through the interface 310. The interface 310may be a network interface that connects the VHS 300 to the VHCs. Forexample, the interface 310 may be the terrestrial command/controlchannel 214.

When the unified beam plan is approved by the VHCs, the VHS 300 sendsthe beam coefficients to the satellite through the satellite gateway,for example the satellite gateway 204. The VHS 300 communicates with thesatellite gateway through the interface 308, which may be a networkinterface that connects the VHS 300 to the satellite gateway. Forexample, the interface 308 may be the connection 210 a.

The dynamic fade mitigation module 304 estimates signal fade conditionsacross the different service areas in the satellite network where beamcoverage is provided. The dynamic fade mitigation module 304 may accesshistorical weather service data from the database 306 to perform theestimates of the signal fade conditions. The weather service data mayprovide information on the precipitation (for example, rain, hail orsnow) conditions during days of the year, or times of the day, andcorresponding variations in the signal conditions. The weather servicedata also may provide information on other environmental conditions,such as solar flares or variations in the Earth's magnetic field, whichmay affect the beam signals.

The dynamic fade mitigation module 304 may determine strategies to adaptthe beams (for example, regional beams or spot beams) to the estimatedfade conditions. For example, additional power may be supplied to thetransponders of the affected beams during the fade conditions. Theunified beam plan may include the provisions for allocating additionalresources to the affected beams during the fade conditions, such thatthe effects of the fade conditions may be mitigated.

Although two modules 302 and 306 are shown, the VHS 300 may includeother modules. For example, the VHS 300 may include modules for beamspectrum monitoring. There also may be modules for monitoring the statusof the different VHCs, and for acting on alarms that may be receivedfrom the VHCs.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example process 400 performed by a virtual hubclient (VHC) for hierarchical beam management in a satellitecommunications system. The process 400 may be performed by a VHC 206 atan enterprise customer site in the satellite communications system 200.Accordingly, the following sections describe the process 400 in thecontext of the satellite communications system 200. However, the process400 also may be performed by other devices in other networks or systems.

The process 400 may, for example, be implemented at an enterprisecustomer site to design a beam plan that satisfies the needs of theusers of the enterprise customer. For example, the enterprise customermay be a cable service provider that runs the VHC 206 client software oncomputers at its offices to generate a beam plan for its subscriberbase.

Initially, when the enterprise customer becomes a customer of thesatellite communications system 200, it establishes a constraintagreement with the satellite network provider. The constraint agreementmay be set (402) by using the VHC running on the enterprise customersite. The constraint agreement determines limits, either minimum ormaximum or both, on the resources of the satellite communications system200 that the satellite network provider will provide to the enterprisecustomer. As such, the constraint agreement limits the range ofcommunication service requirements that will be deemed acceptable by thesatellite system 200 for purposes of allocating resources to theenterprise customer in response to a communications service request fromthe enterprise customer. The constraint agreement may be establishedbefore a beam plan is designed or deployed for the VHC 206.

One of the constraints in the agreement may be the amount of clear skypower that will be provided to a user of the enterprise customer. Theconstraint agreement may specify that the satellite network providerwill provide X dBW of EIRP (X being a non-negative number) in the beamsthat connect users of the enterprise customer during normal operatingconditions. For example, the clear sky power in the constraint agreementmay be 50 dBW of EIRP. The enterprise customer may determine the clearsky power based on the nominal (that is, during normal operatingconditions) power requirement of its user terminals.

Another parameter that may be included in the constraint agreement isthe interference power, which may be specified as C/I, that is, theratio of the power in the beams provided to the enterprise customer(“C”) to the interference power due to the beams of other customers(“I”) of the satellite network provider. For example, the agreement mayspecify a 10 dB C/I, which means that the satellite network providerwill ensure that the interference power from all other sources is1/10^(th) of the power in the beams allocated to the enterprisecustomer.

When designing a beam plan for the enterprise customer, the interferencepower may be used to determine the maximum data rate over a fixed beambandwidth that may be provided to the users of the enterprise customer.More satellite resources may be needed to achieve a lower interferencepower, and therefore the satellite network provider may charge theenterprise customer more to guarantee lower interference power.

A third parameter in the constraint agreement may be extra power duringrain. This is additional power that is provided to the beams allocatedto the enterprise customer during rainy conditions to counter theeffects of signal fading due to the rain. For example, the agreementmight say that when it is raining, the satellite network provider willadd 6 dBW of extra power to the 50 dBW clear sky power mentioned in theagreement.

In some implementations, the extra power during rain may be specified itin terms QoS, and not as EIRP. The QoS may be specified in terms ofnetwork availability. For example, the agreement may state thatsatellite communications system will guarantee network availability tothe users (that is, a certain power level to the user terminals) of theenterprise customer 99% of the time. The VHS at the satellite networkprovider can convert the QoS metric to effective power for the beamsallocated to the enterprise customer during rain fade situations.

Another parameter that may be included in the constraint agreement isthe bandwidth allocated to the users. The bandwidth that may beindicated in the agreement is the bandwidth of the beams allocated bythe satellite network provider. The satellite network provider mayprovide bandwidth to the enterprise customer in increments of 2.5 MHz.

The geographic coverage requirements of the enterprise customer also maybe included in the constraint agreement. For example, the agreement mayspecify the locations of the user terminals of the enterprise customer,which determine the areas that are to be covered by the beams allocatedto the enterprise customer. Greater coverage areas may be covered bylarger beams, which require more resources on the satellite, andtherefore, may be more expensive for the enterprise customer.

The beams that are designed based on the geographic coveragerequirements may be spot beams, which are approximately circular orelliptical beams covering small areas, or they may be shapes. Forexample, the geographic area specified by the enterprise customer may bea polygonal shape, which can be covered by a polygonal beam.

A sixth parameter that may be included in the constraint agreement isswitching. The enterprise customer may specify how the user terminals inits coverage areas should be connected, which determines how an uplinkbeam should be connected to a downlink beam by the switching fabric onthe satellite to provide the desired connectivity. For example, theenterprise customer may specify that its office in Washington D.C.should be connected to its office in Silicon Valley. This implies that abeam that covers the Washington D.C. office should be connected on boardthe satellite to a beam that covers the Silicon Valley office so that anend-to-end connection can be established.

It is to be noted that in some implementations, the constraint agreementmay be optional. In such implementations, some enterprise customers maynot establish a constraint agreement with satellite network provider.When the VHC associated with such an enterprise customer sends a requestto the VHS for satellite resources, the VHS does not check thecommunication service requirements for the enterprise customer, which issent with the request, against a constraint agreement. Instead, the VHSdetermines whether spare resources (that is, beams) are available thatmay be allocated to satisfy the communication service requirements ofthe enterprise customer without affecting the services that are beingprovided to existing enterprise customers.

Returning to an implementation where the constraint agreement is used,after the constraint agreement is set between the enterprise customerand the satellite network provider, the enterprise customer may requesta communication service from the satellite that will require that thesatellite allocate resources to the enterprise customer. In someimplementations, an operator of a computer running the VHC may inputfunctional requirements of the users associated with the enterprisecustomer that will be receiving communication service from the satellitenetwork provider. The functional requirements define a communicationservice need of the enterprise customer. For example, the operatorsitting in front of the computer running the VHC at the enterprisecustomer site may enter the functional requirements of the users throughthe VHC UI shown on the computer display. Accordingly, the VHC receivesthe functional requirements (404).

Based on the functional requirements, the VHC determines thecommunication service requirements of the enterprise customer (406). Insome implementations, the operator may not enter the functionalrequirements in terms of the constraint parameters such as power levelsor beam bandwidth. Instead, the operator may specify the characteristicsof the user terminal and the desired data rate. For example, theoperator may say that it wants to connect users located at WashingtonD.C. with users in Silicon Valley, where the satellite antenna deployedat each user site is a 5-meter dish with 2 watts of transmit power. Theoperator also specifies that it needs X kilo-bits per second data ratefor the connection. The VHC translates the terminal and data rateinformation entered by the operator into communication servicerequirements that can be understood by the VHS, such as the beamcoverage area, beam bandwidth, beam connectivity, interferencerequirements, and power requirements. In determining the communicationservice requirements, the VHC may take into consideration the terminalcharacteristics and locations of population. The VHC also may take intoaccount known terrestrial interference sources.

In some implementations, when the VHC translates the functionalrequirements into communication service requirements, the VHC performsresource optimization. For example, the VHC may optimize the powerlevels, carrier placement and the beams for the users of the enterprisecustomer. The VHC may perform tradeoffs between different parameters forthe resource optimization. For example, the VHC may tradeoff between theinterference power and the beam bandwidth.

The VHC checks whether the communication service requirements areconsistent with the constraint agreement (408). For example, the VHC maycheck whether any of the communication service requirements that it hasdetermined from the functional requirements violate the constraintagreement set with the satellite network provider. Each of thecommunication service requirements such as, for example, one or more ofthe coverage area, the bandwidth or the power level has to be within thelimits set by the constraint agreement.

If the communication service requirements are not consistent with theconstraint agreement, the VHC notifies the enterprise customer. Forexample, the VHC may flash an error message on the computer display forthe operator to see. Based on the VHC notification, the enterprisecustomer may do one of two things. For one, the enterprise customer maychange the functional requirements (410). For example, the communicationservice requirements may have been violated because the data ratepreviously indicated for the functional requirements exceeded thebandwidth set in the constraint agreement. In such an event, theenterprise customer may check whether a reduced data rate would beacceptable for the connection between its users. If the functionalrequirements can be changed, then the operator may enter the newfunctional requirements through the UI, and the process repeats asdescribed previously (404).

Alternatively, the enterprise customer may negotiate a new constraintagreement with the satellite network provider (412). The customer maynegotiate a new constraint agreement, for example, when the functionalrequirements for the users may have changed since the time the lastconstraint agreement was set. In such a case, the enterprise customernegotiates a new agreement with the satellite network provider (402),and the process repeats.

On the other hand, if the communication service requirements areconsistent with the constraint agreement, then the VHC transmits thecommunication service requirements to the VHS (414). By negotiating theconstraint agreement, the VHC had set general service requirementspreviously. Now, the VHC is sending specific communication servicerequirements to the VHS for resources that are needed by the enterprisecustomer at the present instance.

The communication service requirements may include, for example, thecoverage requirements for the service (for example, polygons of coverageareas or a list of point locations), transmit beam power requirements(for example, minimum/average ERIP requirements), receive beam signalquality requirements (for example, minimum/average G/T requirements),interference requirements (for example, target C/I ratios), beamconnectivity information (for example, uplink beam to beam x to downlinkbeam y), and bandwidth requirements. In some implementations, thecommunication service requirements may also include connection timeinformation (for example, the connection is needed for 8 hours between0900 hours and 1700 hours Central Standard Time on Mar. 15, 2013).

The VHS determines a unified beam plan based on the communicationservice requirements that are transmitted to the VHS by the VHC.Subsequently, the VHS sends the portion of the beam plan, which providesinformation on the beams allocated to the enterprise customer, to theVHC.

The VHC receives the individual portion of the beam plan from the VHS(416) on the computer running the VHC modules at the enterprise customersite. In some implementations, the received beam plan may be displayedon the UI of the VHC software that is shown on the computer display. TheUI may show the beams that are allocated to the enterprise customer. Forexample, the UI may display the geographic distribution of the beams,the beam power levels, interference from other beams, and theorientation of the user terminals for receiving the beams. In someimplementations, the beam information may include data that the UI ofthe VHC uses to generate one or more of a map of power distribution overgeography for a downlink beam, a map of G/T distribution over geographyfor an uplink beam, and a map of the target C/I distribution overgeography for both uplink and downlink beams. In some implementations,the individual portion of the beam plan received by the VHC from the VHSincludes the portion of the unified beam plan data structure previouslydescribed that is specific to the beams allocated to the enterpriseuser.

The beam plan shown on the UI provides information on the RF spectrumand bandwidth allocated to the beams. For each beam, the UI may displaythe starting frequency and the ending frequency, from which the beambandwidth may be computed.

The operator determines whether the beam plan is acceptable (418). Forexample, the operator may examine the beam plan that is shown on the UIand check whether the beams meet the functional requirements that theoperator had entered.

The operator may determine that the beam plan is not acceptable. Forexample, the bandwidth provided to each beam may not be sufficient forthe connection data rate requirement. In some implementations, the beamplan may be deemed unacceptable even if the beam plan largely meets thecommunication service requirements. For example, the interference levelindicated in the beam plan may be marginally higher than the agreedconstraint, for a fraction of the total duration requested. However, themarginal variation may be unacceptable to the present needs of theenterprise customer.

In such an event, the operator rejects the beam plan (420). For example,the operator may enter a user input through the UI indicating that thebeam plan is rejected. Based on the user input, the VHC sends a messageto the VHS informing the latter that the beam plan has not been approvedby the enterprise customer. In some implementations, when the plan isrejected, the operator may go back and update the functionalrequirements, and the process repeats (404). This may be done in anattempt to come up with communication service requirements that mayyield an acceptable beam plan.

On the other hand, the operator may determine that the beam plan isacceptable. For example, the beam plan may satisfy all the communicationservice requirements, the constraint agreement, and the functionalrequirements. In some implementations, the beam plan may be marginallyoutside the communication service requirements for one or moreparameters, such as the interference level being slightly higher thanthe agreed requirement for a fraction of the total duration requested.However, the operator may determine that the marginal variation does notaffect substantially the present needs of the enterprise customer, andtherefore may accept the plan.

If the beam plan is acceptable, the operator may enter user inputthrough the UI indicating that the beam plan is accepted. Based on theuser input, the VHC may send a message to the VHS instructing the VHS todeploy the plan (422). The operator also may configure the userterminals (424) such the transmission or reception in the allocatedbeams can be made. For example, the operator may ensure that the userterminals are oriented in the direction of the beams; the transmit andreceive frequencies are set to the frequencies indicated in the beamplan; and the power levels of the antennas are set to values consistentwith the power levels specified in the beam plan. Once the plan isdeployed on board the satellite, the users of the enterprise customermay receive the service that has been requested.

In the manner described by the process 400, an enterprise customer mayaccess beams in a satellite communications system that are customized tothe service needs of the enterprise customer. Whenever the functionalrequirements change, the enterprise customer may re-run the process 400.

The VHC determines the updated communication service requirements basedon the changed user functional requirements. In some implementations,the VHC performs the computations to determine the updated communicationservice requirements without using knowledge of communication servicerequirements calculated in the past. The VHC may then send the updatedcommunication service requirements to the VHS. An updated beam plan maythen be deployed to address the changed requirements. The enterprisecustomer may perform the updates as often as needed to address itsfunctional requirements.

In some implementations, the VHC software modules may be deployed at theenterprise customer site when the enterprise customer signs up fornetwork service with the satellite network provider. For example, thesatellite network provider may provide the address of a website and apassword to the operator at the enterprise customer site. The operatormay access the website where links are available for the VHC softwaremodules. The operator may be able to download and install the VHCsoftware on the computer at the enterprise customer site after enteringthe password. The satellite network provider may periodically update theVHC software and distribute the updated software to the variousenterprise customers through network connections, for example theterrestrial and/or space-based command/control channel.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example process 500 performed by a virtual hubserver (VHS) for hierarchical beam management in a satellitecommunications system. The process 500 may be performed by the VHS 204 aat the offices of the satellite network provider in the satellitecommunications system 200. Accordingly, the following sections describethe process 500 in the context of the satellite communications system200. However, the process 500 also may be performed by other devices inother networks or systems.

The process 500 may, for example, be implemented at the satellitenetwork provider site to design a unified beam plan that addresses thecommunication service needs of the enterprise customers (as representedby the corresponding determined communication service requirements)while satisfying the constraint agreement established with eachenterprise customer. For example, the VHS modules may be running on acomputer at the satellite gateway 204 or at the NOC. The VHS modules mayexecute the process 500 whenever an enterprise customer sends a requestfor beams on the satellite 202.

Accordingly, the process 500 may be initiated when the VHS receivescommunication service requirements from an enterprise customer (502).For example, the VHS 204 a may receive a request over thecommand/control channel for network resources from the VHC 206associated with an enterprise customer. The request may include orspecify communication resource requirements that may include, amongother parameters, the locations over which beam coverage is needed; thebandwidth and power level for the beams; the percentage availabilitydesired for the communication channel, and the duration for which thecoverage is needed.

Upon receiving the request from the VHC, the VHS checks whether thecommunication service requirements are consistent with the constraintagreement with the customer (504). As described with reference to theprocess 400, an enterprise customer may first negotiate a constraintagreement with the satellite network provider before sending requestsfor resources. Therefore, when the VHS receives a request, the VHSchecks whether the communication service requirements included in therequest are within the limits set by the constraint agreement.

For example, the VHS checks whether the locations mentioned in therequest fall within the geographic coverage requirements specified inthe constraint agreement with the enterprise customer. The VHS alsochecks whether the nominal beam power requested is within the limits ofthe clear sky power in the agreement. Thirdly, the VHS ensures that thedesired interference in the request is consistent with the interferencepower specified in the constraint agreement. Then the VHS checks whetherthe desired availability can be translated into power requirementsduring rain fade conditions that are achievable based on the extra rainpower indicated in the agreement. Finally, the VHS checks whether therequested bandwidth for the beams is within the bandwidth limitsmentioned in the agreement.

In some implementations, the request from the VHC may be ad-hoc suchthat the communication service requirements do not satisfy one or moreparameters indicated in the constraint agreement. However, the agreementmay include a provision that allows the enterprise customer to makead-hoc requests. In such implementations, the request may indicate thatit is an ad-hoc request and, therefore, the VHS may consider the requestwithout checking the requirements against the constraint agreement.Alternatively, the VHS may consider the request as an ad-hoc request ifit determines that one or more requirements do not satisfy theconstraint agreement, but that the enterprise customer may make ad-hocrequests.

If one or more of the communication service requirements are notconsistent with corresponding parameters within the constraintagreement, and the constraint agreement does not have a provision forad-hoc requests, then the VHS informs the operator and the customer thatan error condition has occurred (506). For example, the VHS may generatea warning message or an error message that is shown on the computerrunning the VHS. The warning or error message may be generated on theVHS UI that is shown on the computer display. The operator at thesatellite network provider's office can see the message and, therefore,be informed that a request was made by a customer that violated theagreement with the customer. In addition, the VHS may send a message tothe VHC making the request, such that the VHC can also display a warningor error message on the UI of the VHC at the enterprise customer's site.

On the other hand, if the communication service requirements areconsistent with the parameters within the constraint agreement, or therequest is an ad-hoc request that is covered by the constraintagreement, then the VHS proceeds to calculate an optimal allocation(508). The optimal allocation refers to the unified beam plan for allenterprise customers in the satellite communications system, whichattempts to accommodate the communication service requirements of allactive enterprise customers while ensuring that the constraintagreements with all the enterprise customers are satisfied. Therefore,to calculate the optimal allocation, the VHS may take into account theconstraint agreements with all the enterprise customers and thecommunication service requirements for the active enterprise customers.An example of calculating a resource allocation for the unified beamplan is described following the description of the process 500.

In some implementations, the VHS modifies an existing unified beam planto add the request. For this reason, the VHS may maintain a history ofone or more unified beam plans that it had generated in the past. Insome implementations, the VHS attempts to ensure that the networkresources that have already been allocated to the currently activeenterprise customers are not disturbed. However, in otherimplementations, the VHS may update the beam plans for the currentlyactive enterprise customers while allocating resources for the newrequest.

For calculating the unified beam plan, the VHS determines whether therequest includes only an ad-hoc request from the enterprise customer(510). For example, the connectivity specified by the enterprisecustomer in the request might all be for areas that are outside thegeographic regions included in the constraint agreement. As anotherexample, the date rate for all connections in the request may be higherthan the bandwidth specified for the beams in the constraint agreement.In such cases, the request is outside the scope of the constraintagreement with the enterprise customer. The request is still given dueconsideration by the VHS since the constraint agreement may include theprovision that the enterprise customer is allowed to make ad-hocrequests.

If the VHS determines that the request includes only an ad-hoc requestfrom the enterprise customer, the VHS checks whether the ad-hoc requestcan be satisfied (512). The existing unified beam plan may have “holes”in the plan, which are network resources that have not been allocated toany particular enterprise customer. Some enterprise customers may not beutilizing the network resources all the time, even though they may haveestablished constraint agreements with the satellite network provider.However, the agreements contractually obligate the satellite networkprovider to ensure that whenever an enterprise customer makes a request,the request can be accommodated at least within the constraintsspecified in the corresponding agreement. Therefore, the VHS maintainssufficient spare resources in the satellite communications system at alltimes such that requests from existing customers that fall within thebounds of their respective agreements can be accommodated.

In some implementations, when an ad-hoc request is received, the VHSchecks whether the some of the spare resources can be allocated tosatisfy the request. If that is not possible, the VHS may check whethersome of the existing allocations can be modified to accommodate the newrequest, while ensuring that the active customers are not thrown out.

If the ad-hoc request still cannot be satisfied, the VHS rejects therequest, since the VHS is not obligated to accommodate an ad-hocrequest. In such an event, the VHS informs the operator and the customerthat an error condition has occurred (506), as described previously. Inthis case, the error condition is that the ad-hoc request cannot besatisfied.

On the other hand, if the ad-hoc request can be satisfied, for example,by simply plugging in the communication service requirements into one ofthe “holes” in the existing unified beam plan, then the VHS adds thecustomer plan to the unified beam plan (528). The VHS updates theunified beam plan with the new allocation and proceeds to transmit tothe satellite the beam coefficients for the new allocation, as describedin the following sections.

On the other hand, if the request from the enterprise customer is notentirely an ad-hoc request, then the VHS is contractually obligated toallocate resources for the request, or at least for the non-ad hocportions of the request. For example, the request may specify twoconnections. The communication service requirements for the firstconnection may be within the values specified in the constraintagreement, while the communication service requirements for the secondconnection may be outside the bounds of the constraint agreement. Insuch a case, the VHS may have to accommodate the first connection. TheVHS also may accommodate the second connection, but it is not obligatedto do so, since the second connection may be considered as an ad-hocrequest. However, in some implementations, a request is considerednon-ad hoc if the entire communication service requirements are withinthe constraint agreement, and otherwise the request is consideredad-hoc. In such implementations, the VHS has to accommodate the entiretyof a non-ad hoc request. In the following sections, a non-ad hoc requestis considered to include communication service requirements that areentirely satisfied by the constraint agreement, while noting that thedescription may be equally applicable to requests that are only partlynon-ad hoc.

If the request is non-ad hoc, the VHS checks whether an assignment ispossible with the current plan (514). For example, the VHS may checkwhether the communication service requirements indicated in the requestcan be satisfied by allocating some of the resources that are includedas spare resources in the existing unified beam plan. As indicatedearlier, this may be one of the primary reasons why the VHS maintainsthe spare resources—so that it may satisfy non-ad hoc requests from theenterprise customers without affecting the resources that have beenallocated to active customers.

If the VHS determines that an assignment is possible with the currentplan, the VHS identifies the beams that may be allocated to satisfy therequest. The VHS then sends a prospective beam plan to the VHC at theenterprise customer so that the enterprise customer may approve orreject the plan. The beam plan is prospective because resources on thesatellite are not yet deployed to create the beams that have beenidentified for allocation to satisfy the request. Instead, the resourceson the satellite are deployed only if the enterprise customer approvesthe prospective beam plan.

As described previously, the prospective beam plan sent by the VHS tothe VHC may provide information on the beams allocated for theconnection in the request. The beam plan also may include information onone or more parameters of the resource allocation, such as the powerlevels of the beams, interference power, the assigned frequencies, theduration of allocation and the orientation of the user terminals forreceiving the beams.

The VHS determines whether the customer approves the plan (516). Forexample, the VHS receives a message from the VHC at the enterprisecustomer site that indicates whether the enterprise customer hasaccepted or rejected the plan. If the message received from the VHCindicates that the customer beam plan has been approved by theenterprise customer, then the VHS adds the customer plan to the unifiedbeam plan (528). The VHS updates the unified beam plan to include thebeams that are allocated to the enterprise customer for the request, andproceeds to transmit to the satellite the beam coefficients for the newallocation, as described in the following sections.

On the other hand, if the VHS determines that the customer has notapproved the plan, for example if the message received from the VHCindicates that the prospective beam plan has been rejected by theenterprise customer, the VHS discards the beam plan. The VHS proceeds towait for new beam and performance requirements from the enterprisecustomer (502), and the process repeats.

Going back to the check whether an assignment is possible with thecurrent plan (514), the VHS may determine that an assignment is notpossible with the current plan. This may be the case when the unusedresources included in the existing unified beam plan are not sufficientto satisfy the communication service requirements indicated in therequest. For example, the beams that may be generated with the antennaelements available on the satellite cannot provide coverage in thelocations indicated in the request; or, the frequency spectrum that isavailable in one of the requested coverage areas is not sufficient toprovide the requested bandwidth.

If the VHS determines that an assignment is not possible with thecurrent plan, the VHS may proceed to calculate an optimal allocationwith the ad-hoc allocations removed (518). Since the request made by theenterprise customer is covered by the constraint agreement, thesatellite network provider (that is, the VHS) is obligated toaccommodate the communication service requirements in the request.However, since the request cannot be satisfied with the existingallocations, and ad-hoc allocations have lower priority compared torequests that are covered by constraint agreements, the VHS proceeds tocheck whether the request can be satisfied with one or more of thecurrent ad-hoc allocations removed. For example, some existing beams inthe requested coverage areas may be currently allocated to ad-hocconnections. The VHS may check whether the existing beams can satisfythe communication service requirements in the request if the ad-hocconnections are terminated, or moved to some other beams. As anotherexample, the VHS may tweak substantial portions of the unified beam planby removing some ad-hoc allocations, modifying the remaining beams ormoving beams around to free resources for the request, to come up withan optimal allocation that may satisfy the request.

The VHS then checks whether an assignment is possible with the ad-hocallocations removed (520). In some implementations, the VHS maydetermine that an assignment is not possible with the ad-hoc allocationsremoved. For example, the VHS may determine that even after removing allthe ad-hoc allocations, the beams that are available cannot satisfy thecommunication service requirements in the request. This indicates anerror in provisioning the satellite resources, since the satellitenetwork provider should have verified the resources that it canguarantee while negotiating the constraint agreement with the enterprisecustomer. Consequently, the inability to satisfy the communicationservice requirements in a request that is within agreement may indicatethat either the miscalculated the resources that are available at thetime of negotiating the constraint agreement, or it had over-committedthe resources to the enterprise customers.

Accordingly, the VHS may generate an error message on the UI shown onthe display of the computer running the VHS. The message may inform theoperator at the satellite network provider's office that there areerrors in provisioning the satellite resources. In addition, the VHS maysend a message to the VHC making the request, such that the VHC can alsodisplay a warning or error message on the UI of the VHC at theenterprise customer's site.

On the other hand, if the VHS determines that an assignment is possiblewith the ad-hoc allocations removed, the VHS identifies the beams thatmay be allocated to satisfy the request. The VHS then creates aprospective beam plan, which it sends to the VHC at the enterprisecustomer, and waits for confirmation whether the customer approves theplan (522). Subsequently, the VHS may determine that the customer hasnot approved the plan, for example if the message received from the VHCindicates that the prospective beam plan has been rejected by theenterprise customer. In that case, the VHS discards the prospective beamplan and proceeds to wait for new beam and performance requirements fromthe enterprise customer (502), and the process repeats.

However, if the enterprise customer approves the plan, then the VHSremoves the conflicting ad-hoc allocations (524). The VHS may receive amessage from the VHC at the enterprise customer site that indicates thatthe enterprise customer has approved the plan. In that case, the VHSremoves the ad-hoc connections that are currently allocated beams thatwould interfere with the beams being allocated for the request. Forexample, the resource allocation for the request may be achievable onlyby taking away the beams that were previously servicing an ad-hocconnection, and allocating the beams for the request. Alternatively, theacceptable C/I for the beams allocated to the request may be possibleonly by removing some neighboring ad-hoc beams that would otherwisecause interference. In such cases, the VHS proceeds to terminate thecorresponding ad-hoc connections and remove or reallocate theconflicting and/or interfering beams.

In some implementations, the VHS informs the affected ad-hoc customer(526). For example, before tearing down an active ad-hoc connection, theVHS may send a warning message to the enterprise customer using thead-hoc connection. The message may be sent to the VHC associated withthe affected enterprise customer, such that the VHC can display thewarning on the UI of the VHC at the affected enterprise customer's site.This may allow the affected customer to wrap up activities on the ad-hocconnection, or try to find replacement resources for the ad-hocconnection.

Then the VHS adds the customer plan to the unified beam plan (528). TheVHS updates the unified beam plan to accommodate the resourcescorresponding to the beam plan that has been approved for the request.For example, in some implementations, the beams corresponding to therecently-approved beam plan does not affect the other existing unifiedbeam plans (although the beam plan affected the ad-hoc plans that havebeen cancelled to accommodate the new beam plan). In suchimplementations, the VHS updates the unified beam plan simply byplugging in the beams for the new beam plan in the unified beam plan.

In some other implementations, while adding the new beams to the unifiedbeam plan, the VHS modifies the existing beams. For example, someexisting beams that are neighbors of the new beams may causeinterference that reduces the C/I for the new beams below the limits inthe constraint agreement corresponding to the new beams. In suchimplementations, when adding the new beams to the unified beam plan, theVHS updates the power to the neighboring beams such that theirside-lobes are made smaller, thereby reducing the interference caused bythe neighboring beams.

After the unified beam plan has been updated by addition of the new beamplan for the enterprise customer, the VHS saves to the coefficientsdatabase (530). The VHS may be coupled to a database where the detailsof the unified beam plan are saved. For example, the database may be ahard disk or some other suitable form of persistent storage in thecomputer running the VHS. Alternatively, the database may be a networkedstorage server that is connected to the computer running the VHS. Thecurrent unified beam plan, and one or more previous unified beam plansmay be saved to the database.

The VHS stores the beam coefficients for the beams in the updatedunified beam plan in the database. The VHS may add the coefficients forthe new beams to the already-stored coefficients for existing beams, orthe VHS may update the entire table of coefficients. In addition, theVHS may store other parameters of the unified beam plan, such as thebeam power levels, frequencies allocated to each beam, time duration foreach beam, among others.

The VHS transmits the new beam coefficients to the satellite (532). Forthe new beams that are allocated based on the request, the VHS sends thecoefficients to the satellite (such as 202) over the space processorcommand channel (for example, 212) via the satellite gateway (such as204). The VHS also sends the coefficients to the satellite for anyexisting beams that are modified.

The coefficients may be sent as payload of command/control messages.Upon receiving the messages, the processor on board the satelliteconfigures the antenna elements based on the coefficients to create thebeam radiation patterns on the Earth covering the geographic areascorresponding to each beam. In some implementations, the satellite alsostores the coefficients in the on-board memory (for example, memory 202b).

The VHS transmits the beam characteristics to the VHCs (534). The VHSsends the new beam plan that is deployed for the request to the VHCassociated with the enterprise customer that made the request. Ifexisting beams associated with any other enterprise customer ismodified, the VHS sends the updated beam plans to the VHCs associatedwith the respective affected customers. In some implementations, the VHSsends the respective portions of the updated unified beam plan to allenterprise customers, even if some of the individual beam plans for someenterprise customers have not been modified.

The request from the enterprise customer is thereby addressed. The VHSproceeds to receive new requests with communication service requirementsfrom the enterprise customers (502) and the process 500 repeats asdescribed in the preceding sections.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example process 600 performed by a virtual hubserver (VHS) for dynamic resource allocation in a satellitecommunications system. The process 600 may be performed by the VHS 204 aat the offices of the satellite network provider in the satellitecommunications system 200. Accordingly, the following sections describethe process 600 in the context of the satellite communications system200. However, the process 600 also may be performed by other devices inother networks or systems.

The VHS 204 a performs the resource allocation described by the process600 for generating a unified beam plan, or updating an existing unifiedbeam plan to allocate beam options for a new enterprise customer. Theprocess 600 may be performed by a resource allocation module implementedin the VHS for calculating an optimal or near-optimal allocation (508),(518). In some implementations, the resource allocation module performsthe resource allocation based on a constrained optimization algorithm,which attempts to arrive at an optimal or near-optimal allocation ofbeams for the different enterprise customers subject to satisfying thecommunication service requirements that are established with theenterprise customers.

As part of the process 600, the resource allocation module obtainsinputs for the resource allocation (602). For example, the resourceallocation module accepts, as input, communication service requirementsfor VHCs. The communication service requirements may include, amongother requirements, a list of uplink and downlink beams as one input forperforming the computation. The list of beams may include all the beamsthat are requested by the VHCs associated with the enterprise customers.The beams may, for example, have been generated by the VHCs using theprocess 400 based on the functional and communication servicerequirements of the respective enterprise customer.

The coverage requirement is specified for each beam in the list ofbeams. For a spot beam, the coverage requirement may be specified as alist of point locations. For a geographic area, the coverage requirementmay be specified as a polygon covering the area.

The power requirement for each beam in the list of beams, expressed asEIRP, is also specified. The EIRP may be specified either as a minimumpower that is needed for the beam, or as an average power that may beneeded for the beam. The EIRP may be a function of the bandwidth of thebeam with wider beams requiring more EIRP.

The EIRP is specified only for beams that are downlink beams. Forexample, a 48 dBW EIRP may be specified for a downlink beam.

If a beam is an uplink beam, then a third parameter that is specifiedfor the beam is the ratio of the antenna gain (G) to the effectivetemperature (T), that is, the G/T requirement for the beam, which isrelated to the signal quality of the beam that is received at thesatellite. For example, an uplink beam may have a G/T of 17 decibels perkelvin (dB/K). The G/T may be specified either as a minimum G/Trequirement for the uplink beam or as an average G/T requirement for theuplink beam.

In this context, the antenna gain G is a property of the receive antennaon the satellite that will be receiving a signal on the uplink beam fromthe user terminal. The effective temperature T is a measure of thethermal noise temperature that is related to the actual temperature ofthe receive antenna.

As described previously, the operator at the enterprise customer siteenters the functional requirements for the users of the enterprisecustomer through the UI of the VHC running at the enterprise customersite. The VHC translates the functional requirements, such as theterminal characteristics of both transmit and receive user terminals,into communication service requirements for the enterprise customer.

In some implementations, the VHC runs a link budget calculation todetermine the communication service requirements for the enterprisecustomer. For example, based on the functional requirements, the VHC maydetermine that a source user terminal will be transmitting a signal withW dBW EIRP that is received on the uplink beam by a receive antenna onthe satellite with X G/T. The satellite will switch the signal to atransmitting antenna that transmits on the connected downlink beam withY dBW EIRP. The signal is received by a destination user terminal on theground with a Z G/T of the antenna at the user terminal. Based on thelink budget calculation, the VHC can determine what modulation andcoding scheme may be suitable to close the link from the source userterminal to the destination user terminal to achieve the desired datarate of M bits per second.

The VHC sends the EIRP and G/T requirements that are determined asdescribed above to the VHS as part of the custom beam plan for theassociated enterprise customer. The VHS receives such EIRP and G/Tvalues from all VHCs that are requesting beam allocations on thesatellite, and enters these EIRP and G/T values as an input for theresource allocation module.

Another input to the resource allocation module is the interferencerequirement for each beam. The interference requirement may be specifiedas a target C/I for a beam (for example, 16 dB), with the value beingprovided by the VHC as part of the custom beam plan for the associatedenterprise customer. One objective for the resource allocation module isto maximize the C/I for each beam, which may be achieved by minimizingthe interference (I) for the beam, since less interference results inmore efficient data transfer (that is, more bits per hertz ofbandwidth).

In addition to the list of uplink and downlink beams, the input to theresource allocation module includes the connectivity on the satellitebetween the uplink beams and the downlink beams. The connectivityspecifies how each communication path from a user terminal to thesatellite on the uplink will be switched to a communication path fromthe satellite to one or more second user terminals on the downlink sothat an end-to-end “bent-pipe” connection may be established. Theswitching is performed by the satellite processor using the switchingfabric on board the satellite.

The connectivity requirement also specifies the bandwidth for theend-to-end connection. The bandwidth of an uplink beam and a downlinkbeam that are connected to create a “bent pipe” between a single sourceuser terminal and a single destination user terminal have to be thesame.

In some implementations, one uplink beam may be connected to multipledownlink beams. For example, this may be the case for a multicast or abroadcast connection where a source user terminal may be transmitting tomultiple destination user terminals. In such implementations, theconnectivity information that is input to the resource allocation modulewill specify how the communication path on the uplink will be switchedto multiple communication paths on the downlink. The bandwidth of theuplink beam may be different from the bandwidths of the downlink beams.In some cases, the bandwidth of the uplink beam may be an aggregate ofthe bandwidths of the downlink beams.

In some implementations, multiple uplink beams may be connected to oneor more downlink beams. In such implementations, the connectivityinformation that is input to the resource allocation module will specifyhow the different communication paths on the uplink are switched to oneor multiple communication paths on the downlink, as the case may be. Thebandwidth of the uplink beams may be different from the bandwidth of thedownlink beam, or the bandwidths of the downlink beams. In some cases,the bandwidth of the downlink beam may be an aggregate of the bandwidthsof the uplink beams.

The output of the resource allocation module specifies the start and endfrequencies for each beam, and the beam coefficients for the beam, inthe list of beams. The difference between the start and the endfrequencies for a beam correspond to the bandwidth for the beam. Theoutput of the resource allocation module also specifies the power forthe user terminals corresponding to the uplink beams, such as 1.3 wattsfor an uplink user terminal. The frequencies and the uplink powerinformation for a beam are relayed to the VHC associated with theenterprise customer to whom the beam is allocated. The beam coefficientsare relayed to the satellite such that the antenna elements may beconfigured to create the radiation patterns corresponding to the beams.

As a specific example, an enterprise customer may want to connect usersin three cities A, B and C to a user in city D for a conference session.The VHC for the enterprise customer translates the functionalrequirement into communication service requirements for the conferencesession, based on which the VHC creates a custom beam plan that hasthree uplink beams, with one each for A, B and C. The custom beam planhas one downlink for city D.

The custom beam plan is sent to the VHS, which proceeds to checkcalculate resource allocation including the custom beam plan afterensuring that the custom beam plan is within the bounds of theconstraint agreement with the enterprise customer.

The parameters that the VHS inputs to the resource allocation module forthe custom beam plan includes the list of uplink beams for A, B and C,and the downlink beam for D. The uplink beam for A specifies thecoverage required for city A, the G/T for the antenna receiving elementon the satellite that will receive uplink beam for city A and the C/Iand the bandwidth for the beam. Similarly, the uplink beams for cities Band C specify the coverage required for cities B and C respectively, theG/T for the antenna receiving elements on the satellite that willreceive the uplink beams for B and C respectively, and the C/I and thebandwidths for the respective beams. The downlink beam for city Dspecifies the coverage required for city D, the EIRP for the antennatransmitting element on the satellite that will transmit the downlinkbeam for city D, and the C/I and the bandwidth for the downlink beam.The input parameters also specify that the uplink beams for A, B and Care to be connected to the downlink beam for D. The bandwidth for thedownlink beam may be the sum of the bandwidths for the uplink beams.

The resource allocation module outputs the start and end frequency andthe beam coefficients for each of the uplink beams for A, B and C, andthe downlink beam for D. The resource allocation module also outputs thepower that is needed on the user terminals for the uplink beams. The VHSsends the frequency and terminal power information to the enterprisecustomer, who accordingly sets the transmit power on the uplink userterminals and configures the tuners for the user terminals at A, B, Cand D. The VHS sends the beam coefficients for the A, B, C and D beams,along with the beam coefficients for all other new and updated beams, tothe satellite, which configures the antenna elements for the new andupdated beams.

Continuing with the description of process 600, the resource allocationmodule identifies some assumptions for calculating the resourceallocation (604). For example, the resource allocation module assumesthat any portion of the bandwidth available at the satellite may beallocated to beams in any coverage area. Such an assumption may beuseful since in some circumstances, the bandwidths that can be used insome coverage areas can be restricted due to regulatory issues.

Another assumption is that only simple beam shapes are considered. Forexample, the user terminals in a coverage area may be placed such that asingle beam covering all the user terminals may result in a convolutedshape. In such cases, the resource allocation module may consider theuser terminals in separate beams such that the shape of the beams may bekept simple.

A third assumption is that the size of the smallest bandwidth segment onthe satellite. For example, the smallest bandwidth may be 2.5 MHz.Different connections may have different bandwidths, with the bandwidthsallocated in multiples of 2.5 MHz. There may be an upper limit on thelargest bandwidth segment. For example, the largest bandwidth segmentmay be 500 MHz. In this context, a fourth assumption is that when abandwidth is allocated to beams for an enterprise customer, thebandwidth is in contiguous spectrum. For example, if two beams, each ofbandwidth 10 MHz are allocated to an enterprise customer, then thefrequencies of the beams may be 2150 MHz to 2160 MHz, and then 2160 MHzto 2170 MHz, which are contiguous. The frequencies of the two beams maynot be 2150 MHz to 2160 MHz, and then 2200 MHz to 2210 MHz, since thetwo spectra are not contiguous.

The resource allocation module proceeds with the calculation of theoptimal or near-optimal allocation after all the inputs have beenentered. The calculation is split into several stages, which includespreprocessing, options development, option scoring, allocation,reprocessing and review, among others.

As a first stage in the calculation, the resource allocation modulepreprocesses the data (606). In some implementations, the VHS has cachedvalues of radiation patterns for different antenna elements on thesatellite that are provided to the resource allocation module. Theresource allocation module uses the cached radiation patterns for eachof the antenna element as seed values to determine beamformingcoefficients for the antenna elements based on the input parameters.

During preprocessing, the resource allocation module determines beamoptions for each unallocated enterprise customer (608). In this context,an unallocated enterprise customer is an enterprise customer for whichbeams have not been allocated in the unified beam plan. In someimplementations, the resource allocation module determines a set ofreasonable beam options for each unallocated enterprise customer thatwould satisfy the communication service requirements for the enterprisecustomer, while taking into account the beams that have already beenallocated to active enterprise customers. Therefore, the resourceallocation module refers to the existing unified beam plan while comingup with possible beam options for the unallocated enterprise customers.However, in some other implementations, providing service to someenterprise customers may be more financially lucrative to the satellitenetwork provider than providing service to other enterprise customers.As such, in these implementations, the resource allocation module mayremove some capacity previously allocated to less financially lucrativeenterprise customers and provide that capacity to unallocated enterprisecustomers who are more financially lucrative.

The beam options include beam coefficients corresponding to beams withusable service area that can cover a particular user terminal. Thecoverage area for a beam can extend for a reasonable distance around thecenter of the beam. The resource allocation module will consider beamcoefficients that may cover the desired location, even if thecorresponding beam is centered elsewhere, but will not consider beamcoefficients that generate beams with no coverage at the desiredlocation. For example, for a beam that is formed with Washington D.C. atits center, there is a reasonable chance that service from the same beammay be received at Baltimore, which is close to Washington D.C. However,the possibility that service from the same beam may be received at SanFrancisco is negligible, since the coverage area for a beam centered onWashington D.C. will likely not extend to such a great distance.Therefore, for a user terminal located in San Francisco, beamcoefficients that create a beam centered over Washington D.C. areinfeasible. Accordingly, the resource allocation module will notconsider such beam coefficients while determining a beam covering SanFrancisco. However, the resource allocation module will consider suchbeam coefficients while determining a beam covering Baltimore.

Each beam option for an unallocated enterprise customer represents analternative resource allocation for satisfying the communication servicerequirements of the enterprise customer. For example, for a downlinkbeam to a user terminal X, the resource allocation module may identifyseveral combinations of the frequency spectrum (that is, the start andend frequencies and the bandwidth), the beam and EIRP of the transmitantenna element on the satellite that would satisfy the communicationservice requirements for X Similarly, for an uplink beam from a terminalY, the resource allocation module may identify several combinations ofthe frequency spectrum, the beam and G/T of the receive antenna elementon the satellite that would satisfy the communication servicerequirements for Y.

For different uplinks or downlinks, the resource allocation module maycome up with different combinations of beam options, each of whichhaving different characteristics. An option for an uplink or a downlinkis considered viable if the option satisfies the communication servicerequirements for the particular enterprise customer, such as desiredcoverage area, the bandwidth and the power at the user terminal.

In coming up with the options for an enterprise customer, the resourceallocation module inputs the communication service requirements for theenterprise customer to a beam forming algorithm that produces a set ofbeams (and the corresponding beam coefficients) for the givencommunication service requirements. In some implementations, the beamforming algorithm outputs the best beam options that are possible forthe particular communication service requirements.

The resource allocation module may use several different beam formingalgorithms in determining the beam options for a given communicationservice requirement. A beam forming algorithm may perform trade-offsbetween different input parameters in generating multiple beam options.For example, the algorithm may use varying values of noise levels (thatis, a combination of interference and thermal noise) in differentiterations of the algorithm to come up with several beam options. Eachbeam option attempts to maximize the gain of the corresponding beam fordifferent values of the noise level, while suppressing side lobes forthe beam. Each of the beam options will be a slightly different beamshape from the other beam options for meeting the same communicationservice requirements.

Once the beam options are determined, the resource allocation modulederives the gain of each beam, which is a function of the topography ofthe area covered by the beam, and the location of the user terminalswithin the coverage area. Then the resource allocation module uses thegain of the beam to derive the power for the beam option. The EIRP forthe beam option is computed as the combination of the beam gain and thetransmit power of the antenna element. The resource allocation moduleselects the absolute minimum EIRP that would satisfy the communicationservice requirements. The selection of the EIRP takes into account theminimum C/I for the beam option.

After the beam options are determined, the resource allocation modulescores all beam options for the unallocated enterprise customers basedon the existing beam plan (610). While all the beam options that aredetermined as described in the preceding section satisfies thecommunication service requirements, some of the options may be betterthan the other options in terms of satisfying the long term needs of thesystem. Therefore, the resource allocation module attaches a numericscore to each beam option to determine whether one option is better thananother, or vice versa. The score for a beam option is computed in thecontext of the current unified beam plan, which may include allocatedbeams that are used by active enterprise customers. A score is attachedto every candidate beam option that are determined for the enterprisecustomers seeking allocation, and the scored options are ranked in someorder, for example, from the lowest score to the highest score.

The scoring feature that is used in computing the numeric score for thebeam options is a weighted combination of some relevant aspect of thebeam plan. For example, the scoring feature may be an aggregate averageC/I of all the beams. Another scoring feature may be the amplifierback-off power level on the satellite, which represents how closesatellite amplifiers are to saturation. A beam option that results inhigher amplifier back-off level (that is, further from saturation) wouldget a higher score. The scoring feature also may be the satellite powerused by the beam option, with an option that uses a lower satellitepower being given a higher score. The unallocated bandwidthcorresponding to each beam option may be used for scoring, with anoption that results in greater unallocated bandwidth given a higherscore. Other scoring features that may be used include the residual linkmargin (in dB) on the allocated enterprise customer.

When adding a score to an option, the resource allocation moduleconsiders the option in the context of the existing unified beam plan.The resource allocation module adds the option to the existing unifiedbeam plan and calculates a score for the option in the context of theentire beam plan, for the given scoring feature.

For each enterprise customer, all the beam options that are determinedare scored. For example, if there are 20 new enterprise customers and 10beam options are determined for each enterprise customer, then theresource allocation module computes scores for a total of 200 options.

Once the options are scored, the resource allocation module determinesthe best score for each unallocated enterprise customer (612). For allthe beam options corresponding to each enterprise customer, the resourceallocation module identifies the beam option that has garnered thehighest score. The highest score is selected as the best score for theparticular enterprise customer.

After the best score for all the enterprise customers have beenselected, the resource allocation module identifies the enterprisecustomer with the lowest best score among all the unallocated enterprisecustomers (614). The lowest best score for the enterprise customerindicates that the beam options that are available to the enterprisecustomer are less than the beam options that are available to otherunallocated enterprise customers. Therefore, before allocating beamplans for other enterprise customers, the resource allocation moduleallocates the beam plan for the enterprise customer with the lowest bestscore.

The resource allocation module updates the existing beam plan byallocating the best beam option for the enterprise customer with thelowest best score (616). For example, the resource allocation moduleselects the beam option corresponding to the best score for theenterprise customer with the lowest best score, and adds the selectedbeam option to the existing unified beam plan. In the process, theresource allocation module determines whether the allocation is possiblewith the best beam option for the enterprise customer (618). Forexample, the resource allocation module may determine that the beamoption corresponding to the best score for the enterprise customer withthe lowest best score would create interference for an allocated beambeing used by an active enterprise customer to an extent that wouldlower the C/I for the allocated beam below the margin corresponding tothe customer service requirements (and/or the constraint agreement) forthe active enterprise customer. The beam option for the unallocatedcustomer cannot be modified (for example, by reducing the sizes of theside lobes) to reduce the interference to a sufficient level that theC/I for the allocated beam would satisfy the communication servicerequirements.

If the resource allocation module determines that the allocation ispossible with the best beam option for the unallocated enterprisecustomer under consideration, then the enterprise customer is thenremoved from the selection pool. The resource allocation module checkswhether there are unallocated enterprise customers remaining (626) andthe proceeds to re-compute the beam options for the remainingunallocated enterprise customers (608) based on the unified beam planthat is recently updated.

However, if the resource allocation module determines that theallocation is not possible with the best beam option for the unallocatedenterprise customer being considered, then the resource allocationmodule checks whether allocation is possible with any other beam optionfor the enterprise customer (620). In the event that the beam optionwith the highest score (that is, the best beam option) cannot beallocated and there are one or more other beam options available for theenterprise customer, then the resource allocation module checks whetherone of the other beam options can be allocated in the existing unifiedbeam plan.

In some implementations, for each enterprise customer, the resourceallocation module have sorted the beam options in order from the beamoption with the highest score to the beam option with the lowest score.The resource allocation module may have performed the orderingpreviously, for example, when it determined the beam option with thehighest scores for the unallocated enterprise customers. Therefore, uponfailing to allocate the best beam option for the enterprise customerwith the lowest best score, the resource allocation module attempts toallocate the next-best beam option for the particular enterprisecustomer, that is, the beam option with the second highest score. If thesecond beam option cannot be allocated, then the resource allocationmodule attempts to allocate the third beam option (if available), and soon, till either the allocation is successful, or the beam options forthe enterprise customer under consideration are exhausted.

If the resource allocation module is successful in allocating analternative beam option (that is, a beam option other than the one withthe highest score) for the enterprise customer, then the resourceallocation module updates the existing beam plan by allocating theselected beam option for the enterprise customer (622). It is to benoted that the enterprise customer being considered is the enterprisecustomer with the lowest best score among all the remaining unallocatedenterprise customers.

The resource allocation module then removes the allocated enterprisecustomer from the selection pool and checks whether there areunallocated enterprise customers remaining (626). If there areunallocated enterprise customers remaining, the resource allocationmodule proceeds to re-compute the beam options for the remainingunallocated enterprise customers (608) based on the unified beam planthat is recently updated.

If the resource allocation module determines that allocation is notpossible with any other beam option for the enterprise customer with thelowest best score among all unallocated enterprise customers (620), thena failure mode is reached. This may be the case, for example, when thecommunication service requirements or the constraints for the enterprisecustomer have values that cannot be satisfied by any candidate beamoption for the enterprise customer. Alternatively, or in addition, thismay be the case when the scoring feature used for scoring the beamoptions is inadequate, that is, the scoring feature does not considerall the constraints that are indicated by the communication servicerequirements. For example, the scoring feature that is used is basedentirely on unused bandwidth and does not consider the C/I for thebeams. Consequently, the beam options that are generated may not be ableto satisfy the C/I specified in the communication service requirementswhen the beam options for all the enterprise customers are consideredtogether during the allocation and reprocessing stages. In such cases,the resource allocation module reconsiders the constraints and/or thescoring feature (624), and reprocesses the data (606) based on modifiedconstraints and/or scoring features.

As described previously, in some implementations, the existing unifiedbeam plan already has beams allocated to existing enterprise customers.This may be the case when the resource allocation module is run in anincremental mode for updating the unified beam plan with new enterprisecustomers. In such cases, the resource allocation module adds theallocated beams for a new enterprise customer to the list of allocatedbeams for existing enterprise customers.

While adding the option for the new enterprise customer in theincremental mode, the allocated beams for some of the existingenterprise customers may be affected. In such cases, the resourceallocation module reprocesses the allocated beams for the affectedexisting enterprise customers while adding the allocation for the newenterprise customer. For example, the side lobes of an existing beamused by an active enterprise customer may cause significant interferenceto a new beam allocated to a new enterprise customer, resulting in a C/Ifor the new beam that is below the limit set in the constraint agreementwith the new enterprise customer. The resource allocation module maymodify the beam coefficients of the existing beam to suppress the sidelobes without affecting the primary lobe, such that the interferencecaused to the new beam is reduced, resulting in a C/I for the new beamthat is within the limits of the constraint agreement with the newenterprise customer.

In some other implementations, the resource allocation module may startthe calculations with an existing unified beam plan that is empty. Thismay be the case when the resource allocation module is run in a fullmode for updating the unified beam plan with all new enterprisecustomers. In such cases, the resource allocation module adds the beamallocations for the enterprise customer with the lowest best score tothe empty beam plan, then iterates over the remaining enterprisecustomers and adds the allocation with the next-lowest best score, andso on. In this manner, the resource allocation module populates theempty beam plan. It is to be noted that after adding the beamallocations for the enterprise customer with the lowest best score tothe empty beam plan, the plan is no longer empty. In this case,re-processing the options for the remaining unallocated enterprisecustomers is similar to the re-processing for a non-empty beam plan.

The scoring features that are used may depend on whether the existingunified beam plan is empty or non-empty. Some scoring features, such asC/I, depend on beam allocations being present in the existing unifiedbeam plan, since the interference I is due to the beams from otherenterprise customers. Therefore, such scoring features may not beselected when the existing unified beam plan is empty. Some otherscoring features, such as the amplifier back-off power, does not dependon the presence of other beams in the plan. Therefore, such scoringfeatures may be selected when the existing unified beam plan is empty.

In some implementations, scoring features that may not be useful whenthe unified beam plan is empty, such as C/I, may be unused initiallywhen the unified beam plan is empty, but may then be taken intoconsideration after at least one beam option is allocated in the unifiedbeam plan. For example, the resource allocation module may start with anempty beam plan, but wants to include C/I and output back-off forscoring. Initially, when the unified beam plan is empty, the resourceallocation module uses only the output back-off as the scoring feature.However, after one enterprise customer has been allocated a beam optionin the unified beam plan, such that the unified beam plan is no longerempty, then the resource allocation module may then use both C/I andoutput back-off for scoring. This may be achieved by assuming C/I isvery large initially (when I=0), or by scoring slightly differently (forexample, as I/C).

Once the beam option for an enterprise customer is allocated in theunified beam plan, the beam options for the unallocated enterprisecustomers may be affected. For example, an enterprise customer X may beallocated a beam with a frequency spectrum from A to B and a power P.When considering allocating a neighboring beam to an enterprise customerY with the same frequency spectrum, the C/I for the neighboring beam maybe reduced due to interference caused by the side lobes of the beamallocated to X Therefore, during the reprocessing stage, the beamoptions for enterprise customers who have not been allocated arerecomputed (608).

In a conventional system where the beams are pre-computed, thereprocessing of the beam options as described above are not possible.Instead, a beam option for an enterprise customer, which is not yetallocated, that does not meet the communication service requirements forthe enterprise customer due to the allocation to another enterprisecustomer, is discarded. Accordingly, the hierarchical beam managementimplementation with the VHS described here has the flexibility ofmodifying candidate beam options that is not possible in conventionalsystems.

The reprocessing may be done separately for the uplink beams and thedownlink beams, since the communication service requirements in the twodirections are different. When considering a candidate downlink beamoption for an enterprise customer, the beams that have been already beenallocated to all other enterprise customers are considered in aggregate.This is because the C/I for the candidate downlink beam option isaffected by the aggregate interference caused by the neighboringdownlink beams that share the same frequency spectrum (that is,co-channel beams). For example, a candidate downlink beam option forenterprise customer X may have a C/I that is below the communicationservice requirements for X due to interference from co-channel beams forenterprise customers Y and Z, where the co-channel beams for Y and Zalready have been allocated. In such a case, the resource allocationmodule can either increase the power for the candidate downlink beam forX to increase C, and/or modify the co-channel beams for Y and Z toreduce I.

Increasing the power for a downlink beam also may increase the sidelobes for the beam, thereby causing greater interference in neighboringbeams. Therefore, in some implementations, the resource allocationmodule may not increase the power P of the candidate downlink beamoption for X or may increase the power P by a smaller amount.Additionally or alternatively, the resource allocation module mayattempt to modify the beam coefficients for the co-channel beams for Yand Z such that the interfering side lobes of the Y and Z beams on the Xbeam are reduced without affecting the primary lobes of the Y and Zbeams.

If the attempt successfully increases the C/I for the candidate downlinkbeam option for X such that a C/I that is consistent with thecommunication service requirements for X is achieved, then the candidatedownlink beam option for X with, if applicable, an increased power P isconsidered a viable option. If the co-channel beams for Y and Z weremodified to enable the beam option X to satisfy the communicationservice requirements, then the modified beam coefficients for theco-channel beams for Y and Z are accepted as the updated beamcoefficients for the allocated beams for Y and Z.

On the other hand, if the attempt at modifying the beam coefficients forthe co-channel beams for Y and Z and/or increasing the beam X power doesnot increase the C/I for the candidate downlink beam option for X to avalue that satisfies the communication service requirements for X, thenthe candidate downlink beam option for X may be discarded. The beamcoefficients for the co-channel beams for Y and Z may be reverted to theprevious values without accepting the modifications.

On the other hand, when considering a candidate uplink beam option foran enterprise customer, the beams that have already been allocated toother enterprise customers do not need to be considered. Instead, theco-channel interference caused by the co-channel adjacent beams Y and Zmay be decreased by simply changing the beam forming coefficients ofbeam X to reduce the side lobes of beam X without substantiallyaffecting the primary lobes of beam X. As such, the C/I for thecandidate uplink beam option depends only on the shape of beam X.

If the attempt successfully increases the C/I for the candidate uplinkbeam option such that the C/I satisfies the communication servicerequirements for the associated enterprise customer, then the candidateuplink beam option is considered as a viable option. Otherwise, theresource allocation module discards the candidate uplink beam option.

In the above manner, beam options are allocated to the enterprisecustomers iteratively and the unified beam plan is updated. When theresource allocation module determines that there are no unallocatedenterprise customers remaining (626), the resource allocation moduledetermines performance indicators based on the final updated beam plan(628). For example, the resource allocation module computes variousparameters for the allocated beam options, such as C/I, link margins andother key performance indicators, based on final unified beam plan andpower levels.

The resource allocation module presents the updated beam plan to theoperator for review (630). For example, the resource allocation modulemay present the final unified beam plan, along with the computedparameters, to the operator of the VHS for review. The operator mayapprove the plan and proceed to deploy the beam coefficients on thesatellite. Alternatively, the operator may reject the plan and provide anew scoring feature that is used by the resource allocation module toperform the computations all over again.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate an example UI 700 of a VHC that is shown on adisplay coupled to a computer running the VHC. The UI 700 shown in FIG.7A is displayed at a time preceding the time when the UI 700 shown inFIG. 7B is displayed. The UI may correspond to a VHC 206 in thesatellite communications system 200. Accordingly, the following sectiondescribes the UI 700 with reference to the satellite communicationssystem 200. However, the UI 700 also may be implemented by other VHCs inother systems.

The UI 700 may be shown on the computer display such that an operator ofthe enterprise customer sitting in front of the computer can see how thebeams allocated to the enterprise customer change over time, forexample, due to the addition of removal of beams for other customers inthe unified beam plan. The coverage area corresponding to the enterprisecustomer is given by the hexagon 702.

The region covered by the primary lobe of the beam that is allocated tothe enterprise customer for covering the area 702 is given by 704. Theprimary lobe provides the connectivity in the coverage area 702. Thegain in the primary lobe varies with distance from the center of thebeam (that is, the coverage area 702). For example, the region 704 athat includes coverage area 702 has the highest gain, followed by theregion 704 b, and then by the region 704 c, and so on.

Region surrounding the region 704 may be covered by one or more sidelobes of the beam. For example, 708 represents a region that is affectedby a side lobe of the beam that is providing coverage for the area 702.The side lobes may interfere with neighboring beams. For example, a beammay be intended for providing coverage to the area 706 where anotherenterprise customer is active on the same frequency as the enterprisecustomer associated with region 702. However, FIG. 7A shows that theside lobe in the region 708 interferes with the beam that is intendedfor providing coverage to the area 706, such that the beam is unable toproduce meaningful gain for covering the entire region 706. Instead, thebeam is shown to cover region 706 a.

The VHS may modify the beam for the enterprise customer corresponding tothe UI 700, to reduce the interference caused to the beam covering 706by the side lobe 708 of the beam covering the area 702. In someimplementations, the VHS modifies the beam by changing the beamcoefficients such that the side lobes are reduced without affecting theprimary lobe.

When the VHS sends the portion of the beam plan corresponding to theenterprise customer associated with the region 702, the modified beamsshown on the UI 700 is illustrated in FIG. 7B. As shown, the gain overthe region 704 due to the primary lobe has remained largely unchanged.However, the side lobe patterns have changed, which is indicated by theregion 708 in FIG. 7B being smaller than the corresponding region inFIG. 7A. The VHS has intentionally adjusted the side lobe coveringregion 708 such that the interference in region 706 is reduced.Consequently, the C/I of the beam that is providing coverage to the area706 has increased, such that the region 706 a is considerably greater inFIG. 7B compared to that in FIG. 7A. As shown in FIG. 7B, the beam isable to produce sufficient gain to cover region 706.

Accordingly, the operator at the enterprise customer site, sitting infront of the computer running the VHC modules, can see on the UI 700 thevariations in the patterns of the beams allocated to the enterprisecustomer. The VHS may send the beam characteristics to the VHC wheneverthe beam is updated. The VHC modules will correspondingly update thebeam patterns displayed on the UI 700.

Implementations of the above techniques include one or more methods,computer program products and system. A computer program product issuitably embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable medium andincludes instructions executable by one or more processors. Theinstructions are configured to cause the one or more processors toperform the above described actions.

A system includes one or more processors and instructions embedded in anon-transitory machine-readable medium that are executable by the one ormore processors. The instructions, when executed, are configured tocause the one or more processors to perform the above described actions.

Various implementations of the systems and techniques described here canbe realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry,specially designed ASICs (application specific integrated circuits),computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof.These various implementations can include implementation in one or morecomputer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on aprogrammable system including at least one programmable processor, whichmay be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data andinstructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storagesystem, at least one input device, and at least one output device.

These computer programs (also known as programs, software, softwareapplications or code) include machine instructions for a programmableprocessor, and can be implemented in a high-level procedural and/orobject-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machinelanguage. As used herein, the terms “machine-readable medium”“computer-readable medium” refers to any computer program product,apparatus and/or device (for example, magnetic discs, optical disks,memory, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machineinstructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including amachine-readable medium that receives machine instructions as amachine-readable signal. The term “machine-readable signal” refers toany signal used to provide machine instructions and/or data to aprogrammable processor.

Suitable processors for the execution of a program of instructionsinclude, by way of example, both general and special purposemicroprocessors, and the sole processor or one of multiple processors ofany kind of computer. Generally, a processor will receive instructionsand data from a read-only memory or a random access memory or both. Theelements of a computer may include a processor for executinginstructions and one or more memories for storing instructions and data.Generally, a computer will also include, or be operatively coupled tocommunicate with, one or more mass storage devices for storing datafiles; such devices include magnetic disks, such as internal hard disksand removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and optical disks. Storagedevices suitable for tangibly embodying computer program instructionsand data include all forms of non-volatile memory, including by way ofexample semiconductor memory devices, such as EPROM, EEPROM, and flashmemory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removabledisks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. Theprocessor and the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in,ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits).

To provide for interaction with a user, the systems and techniquesdescribed here can be implemented on a computer having a display device(for example, a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display)monitor) for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and apointing device (for example, a mouse or a trackball) by which the usercan provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices can be used toprovide for interaction with a user as well; for example, feedbackprovided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback (for example,visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback); and input fromthe user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, ortactile input.

The systems and techniques described here can be implemented in acomputing system that includes a back end component (for example, as adata server), or that includes a middleware component (for example, anapplication server), or that includes a front end component (forexample, a client computer having a graphical user interface or a Webbrowser through which a user can interact with an implementation of thesystems and techniques described here), or any combination of such backend, middleware, or front end components. The components of the systemcan be interconnected by any form or medium of digital datacommunication (for example, a communication network). Examples ofcommunication networks include a local area network (“LAN”), a wide areanetwork (“WAN”), a satellite network and the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other.

A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it willbe understood that various modifications may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, much of thisdocument has been described with respect to messaging and mappingapplications, but other forms of graphical applications may also beaddressed, such as interactive program guides, web page navigation andzooming, and other such applications.

In addition, the logic flows depicted in the figures do not require theparticular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirableresults. In addition, other steps may be provided, or steps may beeliminated, from the described flows, and other components may be addedto, or removed from, the described systems. Accordingly, otherembodiments are within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method performed by aserver computer system of a satellite communications system, the methodcomprising: receiving, by the server computer system from a first clientcomputer system, a request for communication service for a first userassociated with the first client computer system; in response to therequest, accessing a first set of communication service requirementsthat specify satellite resources to satisfy a communication service needof the first user; accessing, by the server computer system, an existingunified beam plan that includes information on a first group ofsatellite beams currently used to provide communication services toother users in the satellite communications system, the other usersbeing associated with corresponding sets of communication servicerequirements; modifying the existing unified beam plan to provide thecommunication service to the first user in accordance with the first setof communication service requirements and to the other users inaccordance with the corresponding sets of communication servicerequirements, wherein modifying the existing unified beam plancomprises: determining that the satellite resources to satisfy thecommunication service need of the first user conflict with satelliteresources currently provisioned to provide communication service to asecond user of the other users; determining that a first priority forthe communication service for the first user is higher than a secondpriority for the communication service for the second user; in responseto determining that the first priority is higher than the secondpriority, releasing the satellite resources currently provisioned toprovide the communication service to the second user, and allocating thesatellite resources to satisfy the communication service need of thefirst user; and deploying the modified unified beam plan.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the first set of communication service requirementsincludes one or more of a satellite coverage area, a satellitebandwidth, beam connectivity information, and interference requirements.3. The method of claim 1, wherein releasing the satellite resourcescurrently provisioned to provide communication service to the seconduser and allocating the satellite resources to satisfy the communicationservice need of the first user comprises: replacing a first satellitebeam included in the first group of satellite beams configured toprovide the communication service to the second user with a secondsatellite beam configured to provide the communication service to thefirst user.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing a first set ofcommunication service requirements in response to the request comprises:determining that the first set of communication service requirementssatisfy a first agreement established between the first user and anoperator of the satellite communications system.
 5. The method of claim4, wherein the first priority corresponds to the first agreement and thesecond priority corresponds to a second agreement between the seconduser and the operator, and wherein determining that the first priorityis higher than the second priority comprises: determining that the firstagreement is a constraint agreement that guarantees a particular levelof service by the satellite communications system to provide thecommunication service to the first user; and determining that the secondagreement is not a constraint agreement and devoid of a guarantee of alevel of service by communications system.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the particular level of service includes parameter values forone or more of satellite beam clear sky power, satellite beaminterference power, percentage availability of satellite connection,satellite beam bandwidth, or satellite geographic coverage area.
 7. Themethod of claim 4, comprising: receiving, by the server computer system,a second request for a second communication service from the first user;in response to the second request, accessing a second set ofcommunication service requirements that specify satellite resources toprovide the second communication service to the first user; determiningthat the second set of communication service requirements does notsatisfy the first agreement; in response to determining that the secondset of communication service requirements does not satisfy the firstagreement, checking whether an unallocated satellite beam is availablein the modified unified beam plan that can be allocated to provide thesecond communication service to the first user; and based on anunallocated satellite beam being available, updating the modifiedunified beam plan by allocating the unallocated satellite beam forproviding the second communication service to the first user; anddeploying the updated unified beam plan.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein deploying the modified unified beam plan comprises: determininga user-specific beam plan based on the modified unified beam plan, theuser-specific beam plan including information on the satellite resourcesfor allocation to provide the communication service to the first user;communicating the user specific beam plan to the first client computersystem; receiving a communication from the first client computer systemindicating that the user-specific beam plan has been approved; and uponreceiving the communication from the first client computer system,deploying the modified unified beam plan.
 9. A non-transitorymachine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by oneor more processors, are configured to cause the one or more processorsto perform operations comprising: receiving, by a server computer systemof a satellite communications system, a request from a first clientcomputer system for communication service for a first user associatedwith the first client computer system; in response to the request,accessing a first set of communication service requirements that specifysatellite resources to satisfy a communication service need of the firstuser; accessing, by the server computer system, an existing unified beamplan that includes information on a first group of satellite beamscurrently used to provide communication services to other users in thesatellite communications system, the other users being associated withcorresponding sets of communication service requirements; modifying theexisting unified beam plan to provide the communication service to thefirst user in accordance with the first set of communication servicerequirements and to the other users in accordance with the correspondingsets of communication service requirements, wherein modifying theexisting unified beam plan comprises: determining that the satelliteresources to satisfy the communication service need of the first userconflict with satellite resources currently provisioned to providecommunication service to a second user of the other users; determiningthat a first priority for the communication service for the first useris higher than a second priority for the communication service for thesecond user; in response to determining that the first priority ishigher than the second priority, releasing the satellite resourcescurrently provisioned to provide the communication service to the seconduser; and allocating the satellite resources to satisfy thecommunication service need of the first user; and deploying the modifiedunified beam plan.
 10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium ofclaim 9, wherein the first set of communication service requirementsincludes one or more of a satellite coverage area, a satellitebandwidth, beam connectivity information, and interference requirements.11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, whereinreleasing the satellite resources currently provisioned to providecommunication service to the second user and allocating the satelliteresources to satisfy the communication service need of the first usercomprises: replacing a first satellite beam included in the first groupof satellite beams configured to provide the communication service tothe second user with a second satellite beam configured to provide thecommunication service to the first user.
 12. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein accessing a first set ofcommunication service requirements in response to the request comprises:determining that the first set of communication service requirementssatisfy a first agreement established between the first user and anoperator of the satellite communications system.
 13. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the first prioritycorresponds to the first agreement and the second priority correspondsto a second agreement between the second user and the operator, andwherein determining that the first priority is higher than the secondpriority comprises: determining that the first agreement is a constraintagreement that guarantees a particular level of service by the satellitecommunications system to provide the communication service to the firstuser; and determining that the second agreement is not a constraintagreement and devoid of a guarantee of a level of service by thesatellite communications system.
 14. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium of claim 13, wherein the particular level of service includesparameter values for one or more of satellite beam clear sky power,satellite beam interference power, percentage availability of satelliteconnection, satellite beam bandwidth, or satellite geographic coveragearea.
 15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12,further comprising: receiving, by the server computer system, a secondrequest for a second communication service from the first user; inresponse to the second request, accessing a second set of communicationservice requirements that specify satellite resources to provide thesecond communication service to the first user; determining that thesecond set of communication service requirements does not satisfy thefirst agreement; in response to determining that the second set ofcommunication service requirements does not satisfy the first agreement,checking whether an unallocated satellite beam is available in themodified unified beam plan that can be allocated to provide the secondcommunication service to the first user; and based on an unallocatedsatellite beam being available, updating the modified unified beam planby allocating the unallocated satellite beam for providing the secondcommunication service to the first user; and deploying the updatedunified beam plan.
 16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium ofclaim 9, wherein deploying the modified unified beam plan comprises:determining a user-specific beam plan based on the modified unified beamplan, the user-specific beam plan including information on the satelliteresources for allocation to provide the communication service to thefirst user; communicating the user-specific beam plan to the firstclient computer system; receiving a communication from the first clientcomputer system indicating that the user-specific beam plan has beenapproved; and upon receiving the communication from the first clientcomputer system, deploying the modified unified beam plan.
 17. Asatellite communications system comprising: one or more processors; andnon-transitory machine-readable media storing instructions that, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the oneor more processors to perform operations comprising: receiving, by aserver computer system of the satellite communications system, a requestfrom a first client computer system for communication service for afirst user associated with the first client computer system; in responseto the request, accessing a first set of communication servicerequirements that specify satellite resources to satisfy a communicationservice need of the first user; accessing, by the server computersystem, an existing unified beam plan that includes information on afirst group of satellite beams currently used to provide communicationservices to other users in the satellite communications system, theother users being associated with corresponding sets of communicationservice requirements; modifying the existing unified beam plan toprovide the communication service to the first user in accordance withthe first set of communication service requirements and to the otherusers in accordance with the corresponding sets of communication servicerequirements, wherein modifying the existing unified beam plancomprises: determining that the satellite resources to satisfy thecommunication service need of the first user conflict with satelliteresources currently provisioned to provide communication service to asecond user of the other users; determining that a first priority forthe communication service for the first user is higher than a secondpriority for the communication service for the second user; in responseto determining that the first priority is higher than the secondpriority, releasing the satellite resources currently provisioned toprovide the communication service to the second user, and allocating thesatellite resources to satisfy the communication service need of thefirst user; and deploying the modified unified beam plan.
 18. Thesatellite communications system of claim 17, wherein the first set ofcommunication service requirements includes one or more of a satellitecoverage area, a satellite bandwidth, beam connectivity information, andinterference requirements.
 19. The satellite communications system ofclaim 17, wherein releasing the satellite resources currentlyprovisioned to provide communication service to the second user andallocating the satellite resources to satisfy the communication serviceneed of the first user comprises: replacing a first satellite beamincluded in the first group of satellite beams configured to provide thecommunication service to the second user with a second satellite beamconfigured to provide the communication service to the first user. 20.The satellite communications system of claim 17, wherein accessing afirst set of communication service requirements in response to therequest comprises: determining that the first set of communicationservice requirements satisfy a first agreement established between thefirst user and an operator of the satellite communications system. 21.The satellite communications system of claim 20, wherein the firstpriority corresponds to the first agreement and the second prioritycorresponds to a second agreement between the second user and theoperator, and wherein determining that the first priority is higher thanthe second priority comprises: determining that the first agreement is aconstraint agreement that guarantees a particular level of service bythe satellite communications system to provide the communication serviceto the first user; and determining that the second agreement is not aconstraint agreement and devoid of a guarantee of a level of service bythe satellite communications system.
 22. The satellite communicationssystem of claim 21, wherein the particular level of service includesparameter values for one or more of satellite beam clear sky power,satellite beam interference power, percentage availability of satelliteconnection, satellite beam bandwidth, or satellite geographic coveragearea.